According to the National Coffee Association, daily coffee consumption is at a 20-year high with 67% of US adults pouring a daily cup of joe. The city of Meadville and the surrounding area seem to support these rising figures of coffee sippers. In the past five years alone, the competition in the Meadville coffee industry has accelerated to heights never seen before in the area. With the addition of national chains like Dunkin’ in 2020, two Starbucks in 2023 and 2025, and 7 Brew coming soon, the market for a sweetly flavored refreshment has been flooded with new options, and the people of Meadville are drinking it up. 

Driving past each of these locations, it is likely for you to see a bustling drive through and busy line snaking to the door. Students walk into the building carrying Tim Hortons, Starbucks, and Dunkin’ throughout the hallways and to their first periods. What is not often seen, however, is coffee drinks from local coffee shops. Students seem to prefer the large, chain options over what the small businesses downtown have to offer. As I discussed with students the reasons for these grand preferences, there was a commonality among their responses. Students carrying Starbucks and Dunkin' through the halls cited the convenience and superior tastes of the national chains, as well as the lack of knowledge surrounding the local alternatives. Mia Reese, a twelfth grader and Student Body Governor, expressed that she stops at Starbucks in the morning because “it is on the way and has quick service with a consistent product.” 

These reasons, surprisingly, do actually carry economic merit. National food chains excel because of their easily accessible product and fast service. The infrastructure, such as drive throughs, allows chains to reach customers in their cars, enhancing convenience. Local, downtown coffee shops, on the other hand, do not have the capital or the space to successfully employ drive throughs. National businesses

have access to premium quality ingredients, as well as the ability to create a consistent product and service. Local institutions, on the other hand, have more limited resources, which may make it harder to form identical results. Lastly, large chains also have the capability to create and enact huge, multimillion dollar advertising campaigns to lure customers. Local food shops, coffee included, are without the financial means to compete in the advertising sector, making them less known and, as a result, less traveled by. 

Despite the significant disadvantages that your downtown coffee shop must endure, we as members of a community have a responsibility to support local businesses. Shopping and buying local sets forth a string of reactions that benefits the entire community. Andy Walker, the former city manager of Meadville and current downtown developer, informed me of the dismal effect national large-scale businesses have on local communities like Meadville. “Chain restaurants extract wealth from communities,” Walker stated. “The net profits go to corporate headquarters out of town, and those dollars no longer circulate in the local community. These dollars no longer pay local employees who pay rent, buy goods, and support local groups,” he finished. Walker is absolutely right. As consumers, we have the power to choose where we spend our money and the types of businesses we want to back with our dollars. To strengthen our local economy and support our neighbors, choosing the downtown option is the obvious choice. 

As an employee at French Creek Coffee and Tea, a local coffee shop on Chestnut Street, I can confidently say that our products mirror that of Starbucks and Dunkin’ and more times than not at a significantly lower price. I encourage you readers to try out local options for yourselves before defaulting to the national chains miles from downtown, slowly sucking the life from our once lively community of Meadville.