Starbucks and the Shepherd Express
On this morning’s Kramp & Adler radio show on FM102.1 there was some discussion about the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel cutting a deal with all of the local Starbucks coffee shops to make the JS and the Journal-Sentinel’s free weekly paper, MKE, the only papers available at Starbucks. It looks like they were about half right.
It began with some ads running in MKE proclaiming that they were the exclusive provider of free papers at Starbucks. Not surprisingly, the Shepherd Express caught wind of this and took care of business. From this week’s Shepherd Express:
“Based on limited space in our newspaper racks, Milwaukee-area Starbucks stores will continue to carry the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and MKE newspapers. Individual Starbucks stores will continue to have the option to carry Shepherd Express newspapers based on available space. The decision as to whether a particular Starbucks carries the Shepherd will be at the discretion of each individual store manager.”
Good for you, Shepherd Express. Let’s hope the store managers know that they can carry the Shep.
Apparently a similar situation has been brewing in Portland, Oregon with the Wilamette Week.
And to editorialize a bit: Hey, Milwaukee. We are home of Alterra and Stone Creek Coffee. Why on earth are you even going to Starbucks?

November 21st, 2007 at 2:05 am
[...] have written about the crassness and self-serving demeanor of the Milwaukee press in the past. As stations perfect the sensational story and the non-editorial editorial, I can [...]
August 10th, 2008 at 12:34 am
check out http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/index.php
for the full story