Situated cozily into Vermont’s northern mountains, the town of Stowe welcomes its annual influx of tourists — the leaf peepers. As autumn settles in and the branches on the trees begin to burst with hot oranges and flaming reds, visitors flood the small streets. Cars packed bumper to bumper line the sidewalks of Main Street.
On the corner, the door to Black Cap Coffee never seems to close with a line of customers spilling outside. Across the street, a new building stands three stories tall — completely empty other than the arcade. 109 Main Street looms over the intersection, awaiting the arrival of the world’s largest coffee corporation. Starbucks is moving in.
“We are happy to confirm that we will be opening a new location at 109 Main Street in Stowe, VT during the winter of 2024,” the company recently announced to the Stowe Reporter.
The months of swirling rumors circulating among residents have been put to rest by a Starbucks spokesperson. The introduction of a major chain leaves the locals with mixed feelings, and some have taken to Front Porch Forum — a social media platform — to voice their opinions.
“Having been in Stowe since 1979 and an owner of Cactus Cafe for 24 years, this is disheartening to me,” Monique Duckworth writes in one of her posts. “Stowe always prided itself on not having chains.”
As a former member of the Stowe Planning Commission, Duckworth is concerned that the competition could be troubling for smaller cafes in the area.
“I’ve always been a believer that competition makes a better product.” Duckworth later told me. “However, is competition with a chain that has a lot of money behind them fair? If Starbucks pushes some of these little mom and pop shops out of there, then you know what? The town will lose.”
Duckworth’s concern isn’t without cause. The most recent cafe to open on Main Street, Piecemeal Pies, filed for bankruptcy with the Vermont Bankruptcy Court less than a year later. It opened its doors in November 2022, only to close them in the spring. Harsh northern winters are no joke.
The new building passed town zoning laws and all regulations set by the Stowe Historic Preservation Commission.
The chair of the commission, McKee Macdonald, confirmed to me that Starbucks went through a “rigorous review period.”
“A restaurant is a restaurant. Retail is retail,” he said.
Stowe’s planning and zoning director Sarah McShane, explained, “We don’t regulate the business name or the business owner.”
Despite townspeople voicing their concerns, with the lease signed and renovations on the new building under way, residents feel there isn’t much they can do.
“Graham Mink, who owns the building, can rent to whoever he wants as long as he gets his rent,” Duckworth told me.
The building’s co-owner, Christina Mink, a self-proclaimed “Starbucks addict” as displayed on her X profile bio, declined to comment.
While residents like Duckworth worry about the future of their favorite local shops, business owner Laura Vilalta isn’t so worried. Her coffee shop has stood on the corner of School and Main streets since 2010, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
“We are very successful in that location in Stowe, and it is pretty obvious” she told me. “From a business owner perspective, I understand that our success attracts competition. This is business — you know?
“It’s a community hub that we have created.”
Vilalta explains that they provide something for the town that Starbucks can’t. She has already faced competition from Starbucks in her cafe’s Burlington location.
“I did open a Black Cap across from Starbucks on Church Street in Burlington. How can I complain that they do the same in Stowe?” Vilalta asks.
For the most part Stowe has evaded large department stores, trading in conveniences to preserve its small-town charm. Starbucks may have come as a shock to many residents, but it’s part of a larger growth trend. In 2017, Vail Resorts Inc. bought the local ski hill. Since then, many changes have been made to Stowe Mountain Resort in the form of large alpine-style buildings and a new pass system.
The acquisition has pulled in more tourists than ever, as can be seen through the steep increase in rooms tax from 2016 to 2022. The Vermont Department of Taxes shows an increase in meals and rooms receipts of 17 percent.
Stowe has been adapting and finding ways to accommodate the influx of traffic — literally. The first stoplight was added in July at the corner of Route 100 and West Hill Road, offering a solution to the congestion in one of the town’s major intersections.
According to the annual town report, Stowe is investing back into itself with $35,000 budgeted for Stowe Town Plan community engagement. The money will be put toward implementing the town plan to preserve Stowe’s character while new developments take place.
Adopted in 2018, the town plan was created by Stowe Planning Commission and staff after holding 20 public meetings to ensure that it reflects the community’s vision.
While Stowe is bound to face more changes like these in the future, the plan’s opening lines inspire hope that the community will always remain the same: “Stowe is a small New England resort town that exhibits a pride of place and sense of community characterized by a healthy natural environment, including forested mountains, an agrarian landscape and historic compact village settlements; a tradition of hospitality; a respect for historic precedent; a dedication to protect and enhance its scenic resources by maintaining the unique context, scale and visual patterns that define the landscape; a vibrant recreation-based economy which maintains the town’s historic character and traditional standard of quality; a strong community spirit reflective of the town’s sense of security and diverse population; and a wealth of educational, cultural and social opportunities which sustain an enviable way of life.”
Izzy Mitchell lives in Stowe.
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