Suburb to get 12th coffee shop

6:27pm Tuesday 29th January 2008

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American coffee giant Starbucks wants to turn Summertown into a real coffee republic by becoming the 12th store in the area to offer customers a caffeine hit.

But traders in the smart suburb say the coffee market in the area is already saturated and the arrival of Starbucks could push up rents and force out independent stores.

The North Oxford shopping parade has a Costa Coffee - and now high street rivals Starbucks are opening on the other side of Banbury Road. Their arrival will mean there are a dozen coffee outlets within a quarter of a mile.

Nicholas Hardyman, who runs the community summertown.info, said: "It's incredible to think that there are going to be 12 coffee shops within about a quarter of a mile - you certainly don't have to go far if you need a coffee.

"A lot of people are talking about Starbucks coming here and there are concerns that high street chains will push independent traders out.

"Some are worried that we are becoming just like any other high street - one of the things that makes Summertown special is the diversity of shops."

Julia De Felice, 27, manager of Costa Coffee, said: "This store has been very successful in terms of how we thought it would trade and people have got used to having a big high street name here.

"We're not worried about Starbucks opening up across the road - where a Costa opens Starbucks tend to follow."

Pasquale Scarpao, 28, manager of Joe's, said: "This is a place where people like to come in and sit down, but we have just started doing takeaways."

Starbucks will open its new store in the former Bakehouse café, next to the Co-op. It already has branches in Cornmarket in the city centre, and in Headington.

Vickie Tindall, a spokesman for Starbucks, said: "We're really excited to be opening a new store in Summertown, and are looking forward to becoming part of the community here."

Starbucks has not revealed the store's opening date, other than to say it will be "in the next few months". It will employ 14 people.

County councillor Alan Armitage, who lives in North Oxford, added: "A lot of local schoolkids have a bob of two, so they might go to Starbucks."