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By Andrew Hay
TAOS, New Mexico (Reuters) – After two fires ignited a Starbucks construction site in Taos, New Mexico, a developer is trying again to build the first self-service coffee shop in the mountain town with a history of rebellions and opposition from some to national chains.
It didn’t take long for locals in this community of 6,500 to come up with a nickname for the supposed coffee shop: “Sharpbacks.” Meanwhile, a contractor from Albuquerque, the state’s largest city, installed video cameras, and a security guard sleeps on site in a camouflaged trailer.
More than a mile north of the store site, which Starbucks hopes to open in the spring of 2025, patrons of one of Taos’ oldest independent coffee shops are staying silent about the attacks.
“We don’t know who did it, but we loved it,” said Todd Lazar, a holistic healer, as he chatted with other patrons on a bench outside the World Cup, off Taos’ central plaza.
Their conversation reflects criticism that Starbucks has faced as it moves into Europe and Asia, which says the American coffee chain is at odds with local culture and will drain money from local communities. Starbucks operates or licenses about 39,500 stores worldwide.
Posters posted on locally owned businesses show the Starbucks logo — featuring a mermaid — ablaze, with the mermaid’s face replaced by that of La Calavera Catrina, a skull figure associated with Mexico’s Day of the Dead and that country’s national identity.
After the first fire in August 2023, the word “No” preceded by profanity was spray-painted on the partially burned building that was supposed to be a Starbucks.
From the 1680 Pueblo revolt against Spanish settlement, to the 1847 Taos Rebellion against U.S. occupation, and more recently an arson attack on a development mogul and opposition to a billionaire’s ski resort development, the people of Taos have resisted outside forces.
“Taos is a dynamic and volatile contact zone between different groups, imperial powers and ecological zones,” said Sylvia Rodriguez, a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of New Mexico who has conducted research in her hometown of Taos for decades.
Located 7,000 feet (2,134 meters) above sea level in the high mountain desert of northern New Mexico, Taos is known for its UNESCO World Heritage-listed Native American settlement, arts scene, and steep ski trails.
The area also suffers from deep social disparities and disconnects between indigenous and Hispanic peoples — descendants of colonial settlers — and other communities, and has the highest rate of property crime in New Mexico.
People like Lazar complain that the wave of remote workers during and after the pandemic is driving demand for national chains and exacerbating a housing shortage common in resort towns in the western United States.
The Taos City Council supported the store on the grounds that it would provide jobs and tax revenue, according to Christopher Larsen, the city’s economic development director.
“Not great”
Andrea Meier, owner of the World Cup, said jobs were not the problem.
“People come in saying, ‘I’d like to work here, but I can’t afford to live here,’” said Meyer, who runs a cash-only cafe with no Wi-Fi to encourage customers to talk.
Only a handful of working families can afford Taos’ median home price of $460,000. About a third of the housing units are vacant, some as second homes and vacation homes, others as traditional Hispanic families have left the area or for other reasons, according to census data.
Two or three national chains pulled out of Taos projects after the second Starbucks fire on Oct. 23, 2023, Larsen said.
“The feeling is that Taos doesn’t want American companies,” he added.
Starbucks spokesman Sam Jeffries said employee safety is the company’s top priority and that it will work closely with police once the store reopens. No one was injured in the fires.
The city has licensed Starbucks outlets in two of its major stores. Jefferies said the performance of coffee shops in neighboring cities was a factor in opening a store in Taos.
Based on news reports over the past three decades, Taos appears to be the only place in the world where a future Starbucks has been burned to the ground.
Neither the contractor, Hart Construction, nor the developer and building owner, Clint Jameson of Arizona, responded to requests for comment. On his company’s website, Jameson, who plans to lease the property to Starbucks, describes himself as “uncompromising” and a “development maverick.”
The city and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are offering a $30,000 reward for information about the fires. Larsen said police believe they know the culprit or culprits, but lack evidence they were at the scene during the fires. Taos Police Chief John Wentz declined to comment. ATF spokesman Cody Monday said the agency is continuing to follow leads and search for the suspect or suspects.
At Coffee Pharmacy a mile south of the city’s central plaza, owner Pablo Flores stressed the demand for Starbucks-like drinks like iced caramel frappes, which he told frustrated customers he didn’t offer.
The specialty coffee roaster lamented the similarity between the national coffee chains that have sprung up south of the city, but expressed dismay at their destruction. He saw the fires as an example of the breakdown of dialogue amid political polarization across the country.
“Taos is changing and if you don’t like the way it’s changing, don’t support these businesses. Don’t burn them down, it’s not a good thing,” said Flores, whose family has lived in Taos for generations.
