History (Pike Place)

Good morning... What can I get for you?

A little nostalgia?? Sure... I'll get that right up for you. Would you like a pastry, DVD, CD, Mug, breakfast sandwich, Frappuccino, Espresso Machine, TAZO tea or some of the other 45,000 SKUS we have to offer?

No?? Ok... We'll do a little nostalgia then...

This first picture was sent to me by a fella named "Karl" way back in the day. He sent me quite a stack of photos... some like this, others like the founders flipping "the bird" to the camera. It's really kinda sad that there is no archivist or historian for critical items such as these. Pepsi, Coke, Dr. Pepper all seem to understand how important a company's historical roots are to continuing the success of a company. Gotta know where you came from so you know how to proceed.

What strikes me as funny about this particular photo... other than it was taken in the original, original location... is that Jerry Baldwin is holding a butcher's cleaver (Jerry Baldwin went to Peet's after HS bought Starbucks... just an fyi). Wouldn't it be great to know what was on their minds the day this was taken? Why the cleaver? Whenever I felt kinda down about things going on in the company, I could always look at this photo and become reinvigorated. Here's a couple of other things to note... Pay attention store partners...

The large-wheeled coffee grinder on the left is located in a random corner on the 4th floor in the SSC. I snapped a photo of it on my cell phone before I left. The scale on the right is also located somewhere in the SSC now. A few years ago, "Karl" gave me a letter and some polaroids of both items. The letter was written to Howard Schultz... basically it said this:

"Howard... this crap is on pallets in the roasting plant here. What do you want me to do with them?"

It included a nice little inventory list as well. Somehow, the items made their way back to the SSC. So there you go... a little hidden background on the historical significance of this photo. Now you know I was telling the truth about the Pike Place store too...

We'll see you tomorrow for your usual...

Pat Nerr...