The proposed hotel and stadium are bad enough, but this?

In addition the the proposed downtown stadium and hotel, the Harrison Square Project will also include a "specialty coffee shop". There are already quite a few places to go downtown where you can go to get overcharged for coffee. Starbucks, Dash-In, Higher Grounds, the main library branch, and Indiana Tech are all places that I can name off the top of my head. Feel free to mention any I left out. You can also get coffee at any of the restuarants and gas stations. This is a well supplied market, and I doubt our local economy can be helped by any appreciable amount by the addition of another place where "I love you" and $4,52 can buy you a voodooberry Iced Vanilla Mocha with two Splendas and nonfat creme.

Most coffeehouses suffer from a limited life expentancy. Their consumer base consists of teenagers, recovering alcholics, artistic types, yuppies, and me. Only the yuppies have much in the way of the kind of disposable income that it takes to keep a place alive. Often, people will order one beverage, sit and chat for a hour or so, then leave. They don't order shot after shot like one would expect in a bar. A crowded bar is WAY more profitable than a crowded coffeehouse. Starbucks is the exception of course, because they have brand recognition.

One side note: I can get coffee cheaper when I make it at home, but I'll go to a coffeehouse for the atmosphere. So when I pay more than $2 for coffee, it is the atmoshpere that I am paying for and not the coffee. So I don't really understand why people buy expensive coffee through the drive-thru.