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Visiting Blogging New Orleans earlier today (the Crescent City is home to much of my extended family ... specifically, 25 aunts/uncles/cousins), I came across a rant about Starbucks' (NASDAQ: SBUX) rumored plan to open a shop on storied Jackson Square, home to the St. Louis Cathedral and a famous equestrian statue of our seventh president.

Author Jennifer Jordan calls the mere thought of the corporate descent upon the French Quarter's centerpoint as "totally UNACCEPTABLE" and vows to "get signatures or signs or whatever it takes to keep Starbucks out of the French Quarter." She goes on to say that while SBUX is a fine organization in principle, there is a place for chains, and the 289-year-old French Quarter is not such a place.

Another issue, other than the dichotomy of seeing the ubiquitous green logo sprout up among the old-worldliness of the Vieux Carré, is the inevitable competition that will arise with Café du Monde, a French-Quarter based landmark for café au lait and beignets (French-style doughnuts). Always a stop for me on my frequent visits to my Southern family, Café du Monde is an absolute institution, founded in 1862 and open 24 hours a day.

It will be interesting to see how the plucky folk of New Orleans respond to the threatened encroachment from the Seattle superpower. Petitions are being attached to clipboards as I write this, I am sure, and locals are reportedly beseeching local restaurateurs to snap up the real estate SBUX may currently be eying.

Ms. Jordan closes her plea with the notion that SBUX must be stopped if "we're going to preserve what makes the French Quarter, and the rest of New Orleans, as individual as it is."

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Is the French Quarter ready for Starbucks? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 08 May 2007 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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