One of my favourite downtown Whitehorse landmarks announced this week it is closing, succumbing to the pressure of big business moving in.
Zola’s Café Doré is a coffeehouse on Main Street owned by a coffee bean brewer famous in Whitehorse. Whenever I had the chance to do a face-to-face interview while writing for the paper, I almost always chose the quiet back room, painted red, at Zola’s. Everyone knew where it was, the clientele was loyal and frequent, and the coffee was phenomenal. It had my favourite: decaf chai latté. The walls were lined with the paintings and photographs of local artisans, the walls muralled with scenes boasting a coffee revolution.
When Starbucks announced they would be opening a second location in Whitehorse on Main Street, I surveyed coffee drinkers and business owners for an article, gauging whether or not the coffee giant’s infringement on the street’s independent coffee shops would cause their demise. Most thought the mom and pop shops’ customers were loyal enough to continue offering their business, despite the corporate competition down the block. The Starbucks staff and the small shops’ owners all told me they thought there was room for everyone to strive and prosper. Not so, it seems. The Main Street Starbucks opened its doors a month ago, and now Zola’s has announced it is closing.
True, there is a Tim Horton’s around the block, another small coffee shop down the street and Java Connection a few streets over. That’s a lot of coffee in one area. Then again, that’s where all the government workers are stationed from 9 to 5.
I don’t know if this is a case of corporate box store using its solid and internationally-backed franchise structure to dominate the downtown coffee market with its jazzy familiar menu and predictable interior, but it sure is coincidental that Zola’s is now closing.
I like Starbucks. I like their chai lattés too, and their hot chocolate isn’t bad. In the summer, they’re the only place I know that offers green tea lemonade. I like jazz music, and I really listen to it, while I sit in their plush seats in the warm coloured décor. I think it’s comforting. I still think that if I had to choose a spot to do an interview, I’d choose Zola’s. Not only is it taboo in Whitehorse to express admiration for “the man” or the corporate giant, especially considering the hippie and neo-hippie demographic, but Zola’s was always Zen, always calm- even for a coffee joint.

Labels: consumerism, tea, Whitehorse

So Pepsi revealed today that its brand of bottled water, Aquafina, is tap water. I know some will be outraged and justifiably feel duped. After all, who would feel good about having paid for water most can get for free in their kitchens?
For me, this debate comes down to practicality. I have been living like a student these last few years, which has meant that my grocery store ventures produce few bounties and fewer “luxuries” as I call them-- the things I in no way need to adequately nourish myself but purchase for the sake of enjoyment. Bottled water has never made the trip back from the grocery store with me, partly because that’s a lot of heaviness for one 5”7 girl and her little cart to carry. Partly because I have a conversation with myself that goes like this:
“Should we buy bottled water? It’ll be so convenient to just grab one on our way out, stick one in the purse. The 8-glasses a day thing will be so much easier with bottled water on hand.”
“OK, then why don’t we buy a Nalgene bottle, refill it with the free stuff that comes from the faucet, and and not buy into this whole ‘oxidized nine times for the puriest-pure French Alps water’ thing.”
“But it IS more pure, and therefore better for you, and then you won’t get cancer.”
“So we will hook up that tap filter we got from the mother-in-law, avoid cancer, and still not pay for some Coke conglomerate’s version of water.”
So today I purse my lips, slide my head back and scoff at the news release from Pepsi. It’s water, people. Not cigarettes, not cancer water, water.

Labels: consumerism, water