Starbucks is moving in next door to a beloved Toronto cafe — here’s why its owner isn’t worried
Starbucks is gearing up to open a new location next door to a long-running Toronto cafe, but the cafe’s owner isn’t worried about it.
When Sharon Nuzati, owner of the Annex’s beloved First & Last Coffee Shop, first learned that a new Starbucks location was moving in just doors down from her cafe, she told Dished Toronto that she “freaked out,” but now, she’s singing a different tune.
First & Last, Nuzati’s charming, low-key cafe has held court in its cozy Dupont Street location for the better part of the past decade, one of what’s now approaching a dozen coffee shops in the 1-kilometre stretch of Dupont between Davenport and Bathurst.
All of this to say, she’s no stranger to a little bit of healthy competition. Still, when she heard the news that the corporate coffee juggernaut would eventually move into a retail space in an under-construction condo building right next door, it sent her into a bit of a tailspin.
Cohabitating with other small, local coffee joints is one thing, but standing at Goliath’s feet is another altogether. It didn’t help that, when she first heard the news, it was 2020, and First & Last was just starting to find solid ground again after months of uncertainty.
“I think it’s fair for anyone to freak out,” Nuzati told Dished Toronto. “And I think that I freaked out. I was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s gonna be so terrible. We’re gonna have to close, they’re gonna run us out of business.'”
A self-described “blabber” at work, Nuzati shared these concerns with her staff and regulars. In so doing, though, she found a renewed sense of calm about the whole thing.
“Literally every customer was like, ‘Yeah, you have nothing to worry about,'” Nuzati explains. “‘Like, nobody who’s coming here is going to go there.'”
And they had a point, Nuzati says. The bottom line, she realized, is that from the food and beverage First & Last serves to the experience they offer, they bring something entirely different to the neighbourhood than Starbucks ever could.
Nuzati, who, like many of her staff and peers on the local cafe scene, actually comes from a background of working at Starbucks, so she knows the ins and outs of both businesses intimately, and that perspective lent her a newfound sense of confidence in the whole thing.
“My customers are so loyal and they love us, and there’s no way that they’re going to stop coming to us, which is cheaper and a more personal approach by far, and just go to a Starbucks instead,” Nuzati explains.
That, and the product you’ll get at First & Last, is innately different from what you’d pick up at any average Starbucks. It sources its beans from small local producers, Maderas Cafe and Larry’s Coffee Company, and its breakfast sandwiches are made in-house on bread from Bad Attitude Bread, which, along with Courage Cookies, also stocks their pastry case.
It’s a deeply local operation, from its regular customer base to the vendors it works with, which is a far cry from the more impersonal experience you’d get at the megachain — one that no number of handwritten messages on the side of a cup could replicate.
Ultimately, Nuzati says, despite Starbucks’ evangelical fan base and the new location’s proximity to her own business, she doesn’t believe that the cafe will be able to run First & Last out of the neighbourhood, no matter how daunting the possibility looks.
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“At First & Last, I’m not going to sell you the most expensive thing. I’m going to sell you something that you’re going to like, and if you don’t like it, I’ll make it for you 12 times over without complaining about it,” Nuzati says.
“For me, it’s not about making millions. It’s about having an impact on the neighbourhood, an impact on the community, being there for those people, making sure that they have a good time, making sure that they leave having had a good experience. That’s so important to us.”
The jury is still out on when, exactly, the new Starbucks location at 316 Dupont St. will officially open for business, but the good news is that First & Last is right there, ready to serve up your next cup of joe with a genuine smile.
First & Last Coffee Shop
Address: 346 Dupont St.
Phone: 905-922-7429
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