Shimba Hills Coffee, Verizon Center - Fell Down.

[Stretch]

I just noticed today that a Juan Valdez Coffee opened at 7th and E and there's a sign up on the 7th Street side of the MCI Center that a Shimba Hills Coffee is opening soon.  Anyone know anything about these places?  There's a token mention of Shimba Hills on MCI Center's web page, but the link is broken.

Nothing against Starbucks or Caribou, but I welcome the opening of other coffeeshops downtown for some variety.

Shimba Hills is going to be positioned as a "activist" alternative for people who'd rather bust up a Starbucks than patronize one. A portion of sales will allegedly flow back to the downtrodden of the Earth, giving them license to deploy faintly sanctimonious slogans like "Great Coffee. Great Causes." As their brand strategy company rather baldly notes: "That approach allows us to position them as the underdog or "good" coffee company against the larger coffee conglomerates that people are growing tired of."

Don't know what the coffee will be like, though it seems the retail stores are an outgrowth of an existing fine coffee importing business, which may be grounds (haha) for guarded optimism.

[oliveDC]

There's some more info about the owners in the entrepreneurs story in today's Food section. I'm impressed that this is a start-up venture, but like Stretch mentioned, I guess the import business gives them a leg up. The location should too. (Sorry for the self promo but...) here's a link to my blog entry about it.