Starbucks At Johns Creek Closing

Most of you probably know about the woes at Starbucks. They have faced a significant amount of competition from unexpected sources (i.e. McDonalds). As a result, they have been struggling with ways to improve their fiscal position. Recently they listed all of their store closings. Because 2 Starbucks are overkill on CR 210, they opted to shut down the store outside of Johns Creek.

For some of us, that is quite unfortunate. I would much rather stop at that location than the one down by I95. As I need to travel northbound during rush hour, it is nearly impossible to get out of there and head north. Instead, you usually have to go up to the truck stop and make a u-turn.

While many people would prefer to use the drive thru, I do not. I would rather go into the store and get my coffee. I'm not one of those people that are in there daily where I'm automatically recognized by the team in Starbucks. But they are always friendly and quickly serve up my selection.

I wouldn't expect Starbucks to shut down the new store with the drive thru. But if I had my pick, I would have kept the one at Johns Creek. Then again, I wouldn't have built that close to I95 to begin with and I would have built the Johns Creek one with a drive thru.

One last thing about Starbucks. They build this brand new store with the drive thru. They put up a sign on a high post. But they don't advertise it on the billboards or other exit signs. If they really are trying to capitalize on the highway traffic, shouldn't they let people know that it is there before they go past the exit? Starbucks needs to find ways to drive people to the store and not chase them away. In a land of supply and demand, you need to drive up demand or else supply will kill you. This is what is happening with Starbucks. Instead of giving people more reasons to go there, they let their competitors get an upper hand. Then their overpopulation of stores inflates their operating expenses.

Russell Sampson Road Closing

If you have driven on CR 210 anytime recently, you would have noticed the temporary sign stating that Russell Sampson Road will be closed. Per the official public announcement from St Johns County, Russel Sampson Road will be closed for up to 9 months except to local traffic.

Why will it be closed for 9 months? The road is being diverted. Obviously it is a real traffic nightmare for the morning commute and a disaster waiting to happen in the evening. All of the morning cars merge into CR 210 in the morning backing up the left lane. During the evening rush hour, it is real dangerous for any cars trying to make a left turn onto CR 210.

When it is finished, the road will be diverted and will meet up with Leo Maguire Road. There is no mention if a traffic light will be added, but one would assume that there will be one added at that corner to help manage traffic better.

I would think that this might help the morning commuters a little bit. But it will likely give the people that change lanes at the last moment a little longer to merge over into the left lane without having to watch out for the Russell Sampson Road traffic. Hopefully the County Commissioners and FDOT are still working on a long term plan for the I95 intersection to better handle the traffic volume.

Here is the link to the official post...
http://webappserver1.co.st-johns.fl.us/bcc/PublicRelations/PressReleasesRepo/Media/Russell%20Sampson%20Road%20Realignment%20WEB.pdf