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Coffee shop inspiration.



There is one Starbucks in Malaga Centre, inside the El Corte Ingles mega store. It has been there since August 2014 and although a lot of the Spanish public didn't think it would do too well, they are opening a new one in Calle Nueva, I believe it will be open later this summer. 

Starbucks may be a massive brand worldwide but in a place where coffee is drunk up to five times a day and that it usually costs around €1.20, the future of Starbucks in Málaga was uncertain at the least. I am actually quite surprised by its success. 
I am actually writing this post sitting here in Starbucks with my Venti Mocca and white chocolate cookie, listening to the gentle music hoping to get some stuff done for uni but instead I started thinking, Why do people come here to work on their computers if they have a table and probably a coffee machine at home? What are the people in here working on? Most of them are on their computers or phones so I decided to get up and ask. 

At the time I started asking there were only eight people sitting and working. These are some of the answers I got when I asked them what they were working on. 

I have a twelve o'clock meeting and am just making time by going over my presentation.

I like to write short stories and they say Starbucks is a place where writers go to look for inspiration, so I am trying out -Is it working? - So far, it seems to be.

We have come for a little bit of breakfast before we start our site seeing, we are in Málaga for a few days. - Where are you from? - Boston, America.

I'm checking e-mails before I go to work.

I'm just fooling around, I am bored. 

I'm here for the free Internet, I am just messaging friends.

I must say, I was expecting people to be a little more helpful and friendly but that didn't stop me asking each and everyone of them in here, although there was only seven people to ask. Maybe not everyone is in as good a mood as I am today!

I think the idea of Starbucks for most Spanish is the same, its expensive. Generally people in Spain can be a little too careful with their money, which I am not saying is a bad thing obviously, but I hope they realise they can't take their money with them when they leave this world, as my mother always says.

It was an interesting little experiment this, the only conclusion I have come to is that Starbucks comes with an idea of value, that value being inspiration. Maybe there is something to it, I mean here I am writing a post about when I had nothing else on my mind to write about...Interesting.

Another thing I notices is how far away from each other these people were sitting, and yet nearly all the tables and chairs here are next to each other, practically touching. It's a funny thing, social behaviour is different all over the world, the Spanish people say they are really polite and love to interact with people but I'm not completely sold on the idea, I spend 80% of my time interacting with Spanish and talking their language, and based on today's experiment I wouldn't say they were the friendliest, they answered sure, but they weren't over excited about my interrupting them. 

Keep it simple



Location: Calle Hilera, Málaga, Spain

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