"Starbucks, the world's largest coffee shop chain, has apparently picked a location for its first store in Hungary - a shopping mall. Although it seems an unorthodox choice, there is no confirmation whatsoever as yet.The only available but yet unconfirmed information about the opening of the first Starbucks coffee shop is a tumblr site of a blog - this one .
The photo was taken in Budapest’s WestEnd City Centre and says "A Starbucks store is to open here soon."
Last autumn, the local media reported rumours that Starbucks will debut in Hungary with a coffee shop in Váci utca, a posh shopping street in downtown Budapest (5th district). Then the crisis wiped out the company’s expansion plans.
However, a job ad shows that Starbucks does seek a Store Manager for a Hungarian unit.
A blog on local news portal index.hu speculates that the location choice of Starbucks - a shopping mall instead of a more prestigious downtown place - means that the company does not even want to focus on those valuing a good coffee in the morning. It said the earliest a coffee shop in a shopping mall would start to attract real crowds is noon at best.
"It’s a pervert idea to imagine that you try to wake up with coffee and milk in a mall."
Starbucks entered the Czech Republic in January 2008 and opened its first coffeehouse in Warsaw, Poland in April last year."
Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal
09.02.2010