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Ask Matt ... about new Starbucks, church traffic cops

Q. What’s happening with the new Starbucks that’s supposed to be built on Mitchelle Drive at Orr’s Camp Road? All the landscaping is in but it has stayed that way for weeks.

First reported by the Hendersonville Lightning last February, the long-awaited city ubiquitous coffee shop is going to open. Starbucks has confirmed that the store will open next year. I asked their home office if our new store was going to be a “modular” store, since the site was so small and the plans call for a long rectangular building. It will not, but you may be interested in what the coffee company, widely known for innovation, has been doing lately with store design.
Seattle was the natural birthplace of Starbuck’s modular stores. At company headquarters on the Puget Sound, you could look out the windows and see a busy port with colored metal shipping containers stacked everywhere. This view inspired company designers to develop a prototype for a modular drive-through and walk-up (but no sit and sip) coffee shop. And yes, the first such store actually was made from used shipping containers. The unit was assembled then lowered by crane to a pre-constructed site in a Seattle suburb. If you want to see the bizarre exterior, search online for “Starbucks - modular.” I suspect Hooterville was not ready for the West Coast look.
Our new Starbucks will have a drive-thru window and will employ three to five baristas —oops, that’s old school; they now call them “partners” but they still wear green aprons. Anyway, the company is eyeing 1,500 new U.S. locations in the next five years with 60 percent being the smaller pull-through stores. It seems that Starbucks has figured out that a driver on I-26 can Google up a Starbucks in Hendersonville, zip through one stop light, grab a cup of Joe and be back on the road before the coffee hits the lips. Sweet.

Q. Are the sheriff’s deputies directing traffic on Sunday mornings paid?

Yes. Churches pay $30 an hour for the services of off-duty uniformed deputies. A portion of the payment is returned to the county to cover overhead. Among the churches using deputies are Mud Creek, Grace Community, Etowah United Methodist and Biltmore Baptist (Upward campus). Each church makes the request directly to the Sheriff’s Office, which schedules the officers. The Sunday duty is strictly voluntary. Off-duty work is common throughout law enforcement.