Caffeine High for downtown Phoenix

Flash back to 2004, and it seemed like the nationwide coffee shop craze had bypassed Phoenix. Despite the success of independent coffee houses in basically every city nationwide-- even Buffalo has a hip local coffee chain known as 'Spot Coffee'-- Phoenix had only the Willow House and Lux and a few outposts in Tempe.

But in a boom that parallels the explosion of restaurants in and around downtown Phoenix, a lot has changed in a few years. Downtown and central Phoenix are now awash in java places, and the suddenly competitive landscape is going to test the depth of the downtown market.

By my count, there are three independent coffee shops and at least five Starbucks outlets in downtown Phoenix. Three more places (Tammie Coe, Krispy Kreme, and Calabria) serve coffee but specialize in other fare. Further uptown are several other popular indie coffee houses, including the aforementioned Lux, which sparked the trend.

And in the next few months, the number of independent shops is set to double. All the entrants are familiar faces-- Royal Coffee Bar will open a branch at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market's indoor store, the people behind Matt's Big Breakfast will open a shop near the Phoenix Art Museum, and on Friday Fair Trade Cafe will start up a second branch at the new Civic Space Park. In addition to the new independents, another chain-- Press Coffee-- was announced at CityScape.

As with every positive sign for downtown, there are sure to be naysayers and doubters that will come out of the woodwork. A common refrain will likely be that there aren't enough people downtown to populate these enterprises. But like the new restaurants, which all seem pretty popular even in the face of a recession and a massive cutback in consumer spending, I expect the coffee shops to do just fine.

The suburban doubters often misunderstand the urban market. Unlike suburban stores, which seem to like to isolate themselves from competition, urban shops benefit from clustering. The more places to go-- even places of the same type-- the more people will get out and walk the sidewalks and eventually decide to stop inside some place for a drink and a break. Coffee shops particularly fit the urban streetscape with their windows that let patrons face out and observe life outside the shop.

So, as with the proliferation of condos and restaurants, the more coffee shops in downtown Phoenix, the merrier.