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Good article but I was hoping this would look into what the effect of the "no purchase necessary" era of Starbucks has been ever since they were shamed into letting people sit around / use the bathroom without making a purchase. Has this hurt sales? Starbuck's ability to serve as a third space? Startup formation? Good test as to how much disorder really matters.

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I agree 100% My concern is when this kind of valid local concern get weaponized to elect politicians at the national level that want to raise tariffs, cut taxes and cause deficits and deport long established immigrants.

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“ To put this more simply: opening a Starbucks in a neighborhood creates start-ups in that neighborhood. And that’s because Starbucks acts as a third place, creating opportunities for felicitous connection and fruitful cooperation. After all, if you want to meet and talk about a business idea, but you don’t have an office yet, where do you go?”

“ Importantly, when Starbucks enters neighborhoods with existing coffee shops, there is no significant effect on entrepreneurship, suggesting the impact is specific to areas with few such “third place” institutions. The effect also decreases quickly with distance from the Starbucks location, implying a localized network mechanism”

Are you sure we’re not just measuring a signpost of an area that was poised for takeoff?

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I think in part the fact that rejected Starbucks openings are factored in as a control that this is partially counted into the measurement. Additionally, it appears that startup density per year increases with time since the space opens, which indicates that it is partially a causal, or at least time-correlated factor.

A logical counter explanation, to your point, would be that geographic locations sponsoring the opening of a Starbucks may also be making a general investment in local businesses, and as a result we see startup density in general increase.

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“ A logical counter explanation, to your point, would be that geographic locations sponsoring the opening of a Starbucks may also be making a general investment in local businesses, and as a result we see startup density in general increase.”

Yes, and you also need to explore whether rejected Starbucks openings are really random and whether those neighborhoods are in fact good controls.

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Small world - literally just wrote about the same paper and the implications of it (especially with the growth of work from home) - https://www.nominalnews.com/p/coffee-entrepreneurship-innovation-starbucks

I think there's scope for government intervention here. In some place in NYC, due to overcrowding, coffee shops are giving limited Wi-Fi usage passwords, since they need sales and are offering space for free.

Enjoyed your discussion of the issue.

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