SEQUIM — The summer’s forecast calls for caffeine, coming down from the east and west. And by late July, the west side of Sequim will be something like Seattle, with Starbucks locations within walking distance of each other.
A 1,700-square-foot, freestanding-with-a-drive-through Starbucks will open next month, said Heywood McGuffee, the company’s regional marketing manager.
The store is taking shape in Sequim Village Marketplace on West Washington Street in front of The Home Depot.
It’ll mean 20 to 25 jobs, McGuffee added, though he didn’t say how many would be full-time. The store manager will determine hours of operation, and will probably stick with Starbucks’ standard 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekend schedule.
Six-tenths of a mile to the east, the Starbucks inside Safeway at Seventh Avenue and Washington will carry on as usual, McGuffee said.
Coffee house growth
The new Sequim location is one of 1,800 Starbucks stores opening around the globe in fiscal 2006, which runs from October through September.
It’s also part of the massive growth of coffee houses in this country.
In 1995, the United States had a mere 5,000 places to get quality brew. Today we can sip at 21,400, said Specialty Coffee Association of America spokesperson Mike Ferguson.
About 35 percent of U.S. coffee houses are Starbucks stores, Ferguson added.
And yes, the distribution of cafes — chain and independent — is lopsided in our direction, as though most of the country’s java is poured into the Pacific Northwest.
When asked why Sequim got the big store instead of the more populous Port Angeles or trendier Port Townsend, McGuffee said the Village Marketplace shopping center, with its wide-open space and proximity to U.S. Highway 101, was too good to pass up.
