The rumor mill for the past few years have speculated that Starbucks www.Starbucks.com would be coming to the downtown area of Medford, specifically the Papa Gino’s www.papaginos.com location on Salem Street.
It beginning to appear the rumors are coming closer to reality. Recent construction on the old Lee Elliot’s Tuxedo location on Riverside Ave is said to be new home for Papa Gino’s opening the current Papa Gino’s location for Starbucks to enter into the Medford downtown market. Although Starbucks has a few location in Medford, access to the locations has been somewhat difficult. The move for Papa Gino’s may boost sale as well with a new updated atmosphere compared to the current location which is outdated and lacks the décor of modern Papa Gino’s restaurants.
Starbucks will certainly bring added to competition to Dunkin Donuts which operates one of it’s location directly across the street from the Starbucks new location. Although I visit the Dunkin Donuts close to the new Starbucks location almost daily, I think Starbucks will create stiff competition for DD. DD has poor customer service, often running out of baked goods and seems to have a management team that has no experience. Certainly with Starbucks management style and a leader within the industry, DD needs to be well aware of the current battle looming in the downtown.
