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Thread: Spot Coffee chain expanding to Williamsville and Toronto

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    Member BuffaloEMT14216's Avatar
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    Spot Coffee chain expanding to Williamsville and Toronto

    Spot Coffee chain expanding to Williamsville and Toronto
    Two new sites to open this year
    By Sharon LinstedtNEWS BUSINESS REPORTER
    Updated: 01/29/08 10:03 AM



    The CVS Pharmacy in this building on Main Street at Union Road closed last year. Spot Coffee plans a cafe for the Williamsville building.
    Spot Coffee will be adding more dots to the map in 2008 with new locations in Williamsville and Toronto.

    The 12-year-old coffee cafe business, which is owned by a U.S.-Canadian investment group, plans to open in the former CVS pharmacy building at the corner of Main Street and Union Road in Williamsville. The company is also scouting sites in Toronto’s Yorkville neighborhood for a second venue in that city.

    “We’re really excited about Williamsville and are looking forward to bringing a coffee house to Main Street,” said Tom Brown, Spot’s chief executive officer. “We want to be the place in the village people will walk to and hang out for awhile.”

    Plans, which will be submitted to the Town of Amherst next month, call for Spot to convert some 3,000 square feet of the former drug store to a coffee house and restaurant. Site owner Benderson Development will lease remaining first-floor space to one or two smaller retailers.

    “We wanted to do something interesting and unique at that property and these guys plan to make a substantial investment that will add an exciting new element to the heart of Williamsville,” said Eric Recoon, Benderson’s Northeast Division leasing chief.

    Buffalo architect Brad Wales, who designed the building at Elmwood and Cleveland avenues in Buffalo that houses one of two city Spots, is working on plans for the drug store to coffee house conversion.

    “The look and feel of each of our locations reflects the neighborhood it’s in. The Williamsville Spot will be its own animal; it won’t be like Buffalo, Toronto or Rochester,” Brown said.

    The Williamsville Spot Coffee will have a “roomy feel,” according to Brown, with plenty of space to dine or lounge. It will also feature a fireplace. The second floor of the former CVS, which closed in 2007, will remain office space. Brown acknowledged the new

    Spot Coffee location will be facing existing competition along Main Street including Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Dunkin’ Donuts.

    “There’s a lot of good, quick coffee out there. We position ourselves as a true coffee house. We want you to come and stay a while,” Brown said.

    Founded in 1996 by Sally Penders-Morin and Mike Morin, Spot Coffee debuted with a single location at the corner of Delaware Avenue and W. Chippewa Street in downtown Buffalo. The couple added the second Buffalo site, plus locations in Ellicottville and Rochester, before running into financial difficulties.

    Innomarque USA, led by Buffalo businessman Joe Koessler and backed by Canadian investment group Scorpio Capital Corp., acquired Spot’s assets in 2004. While Koessler is no longer associated with the business, the group remains dedicated to expanding its ties to Western New York.

    “We are forging new relationships to expand the brand on a regional basis,” Brown said.

    Those efforts include branded mini-cafes in Dash’s Markets in the Town of Tonawanda and Williamsville. A third satellite Spot will open in Dash’s newest market in Clarence this spring.

    Spot has also partnered with the Anderson’s Frozen Custard chain, where its java is a featured ingredient in several coffee and custard beverages.

    Spot is also reinvesting in its Elmwood Avenue coffeehouse by expanding its current site to take over half of the former New World Record store next door. Brodo restaurant will stretch out into the other half of that vacant space.

    Across the border, Spot opened its doors in Concord CityPlace, across from the Rogers Centre, last February.

    Hot Spot Hospitality Corp., Spot’s parent company, said in August that it plans 37 new Spot Coffee sites in the United States and Canada by 2012..
    Be advised, I'm mean nasty and tired. I eat concertina wire and piss napalm and I could put a round through a fleas ass at 300 meters. So why don't you hump somebody else's leg mutt-face before I push yours in. (Heartbreak Ridge)

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    Member run4it's Avatar
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    Since when is Dunkin' Donuts or Timmy Ho's in competition with Spot? Completely different product lines and clientele. The only thing they have in common is that they use beans to make stuff.

    That being said, I like Spot enough that I might just make a trip out to Wmsvl one day to check it out, when it's open.
    But your being a dick
    ~Wnyresident

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    Quote Originally Posted by run4it
    Since when is Dunkin' Donuts or Timmy Ho's in competition with Spot? Completely different product lines and clientele. The only thing they have in common is that they use beans to make stuff.

    That being said, I like Spot enough that I might just make a trip out to Wmsvl one day to check it out, when it's open.
    Its still competition---but I agree totally different atmosphere's. Only smart people go to Starbucks and Spot Coffee!
    Peace Out Funky

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    Unregistered bigpoppapuff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by run4it
    Since when is Dunkin' Donuts or Timmy Ho's in competition with Spot? Completely different product lines and clientele. The only thing they have in common is that they use beans to make stuff.

    That being said, I like Spot enough that I might just make a trip out to Wmsvl one day to check it out, when it's open.

    you can get spot beans at spot on elmwood or the co-op.....save on gas...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Velvet Fog
    Its still competition---but I agree totally different atmosphere's. Only smart people go to Starbucks and Spot Coffee!
    Oh ...
    I never heard of Spot and I don't like Starbuck's coffee. Once you dazzle it up a bit it's okay. But otherwise it's not my cuppa coffee.
    First Amendment rights are like muscles, if you don't exercise them they will atrophy.

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    Member Velvet Fog's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mesue
    Oh ...
    I never heard of Spot and I don't like Starbuck's coffee. Once you dazzle it up a bit it's okay. But otherwise it's not my cuppa coffee.
    I just get a kick out of all the people on their laptops and blue tooth sitting around hoping to be noticed in Starbucks. And it doesn't matter where you go, their all the same!
    Peace Out Funky

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    Quote Originally Posted by Velvet Fog
    I just get a kick out of all the people on their laptops and blue tooth sitting around hoping to be noticed in Starbucks. And it doesn't matter where you go, their all the same!
    What does getting noticed in Starbucks get you?
    First Amendment rights are like muscles, if you don't exercise them they will atrophy.

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    Unregistered bigpoppapuff's Avatar
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    i love starbucks.......but will not wear a bluetooth....i wanna go norris on 'em....

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    Quote Originally Posted by mesue
    What does getting noticed in Starbucks get you?
    You'd have to ask those goofs that actually do it! I don't drink coffee, just tea.
    Peace Out Funky

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    Quote Originally Posted by Velvet Fog
    I just get a kick out of all the people on their laptops and blue tooth sitting around hoping to be noticed in Starbucks. And it doesn't matter where you go, their all the same!
    ok Foggy, do you feel like that about the other places that offer wi-fi or just Starbuck's??? What about the Spot locations with wi-fi?
    Having teased you, I do love lunch at Spot and I love their dark roast Sumatra, but I prefer Starbuck's espresso.

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    Member Velvet Fog's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cookie
    ok Foggy, do you feel like that about the other places that offer wi-fi or just Starbuck's??? What about the Spot locations with wi-fi?
    Having teased you, I do love lunch at Spot and I love their dark roast Sumatra, but I prefer Starbuck's espresso.
    All coffee houses are similar. Am I right or am I right though?
    Peace Out Funky

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    Quote Originally Posted by Velvet Fog
    All coffee houses are similar. Am I right or am I right though?
    Of course you are! I just like needling you

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    Quote Originally Posted by cookie
    Of course you are! I just like needling you
    Thank you. Now I have to adjust my wi-fi ear phone and sharpen my pencil.
    Peace Out Funky

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    and I'm off to the vet (who does NOT have wi-fi)
    ty

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    let me beat you to the punch... I think I have kennel cough and possibly mange

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