New Mexico Starbucks nicknamed 'Charbucks' after arson attacks

Taos (Reuters): After two arson attacks at a Starbucks construction site in Taos, New Mexico, a developer is trying again to build the chain's first drive-through cafe in the mountain town with a history of revolts and opposition by some to national chains.

It did not take long for locals in this community of 6,500 to come up with a nickname for the would-be coffee shop: "Charbucks." Meanwhile, the building contractor from Albuquerque, the state's largest city, has installed video cameras and a security guard sleeps at the site in a camouflage trailer.

Just over a mile north of the site of the store, which Starbucks hopes to open in the spring of 2025, patrons at one of Taos' oldest independent coffee shops are tight-lipped about the attacks.

"We don't know who did it, but we loved it," said Todd Lazar, a holistic healer, as he chatted with other regulars on a bench outside the World Cup, just off Taos' central plaza.

Their conversation echoes criticism Starbucks faced as it moved into Europe and Asia that the U.S. coffee chain clashes with local culture and will shovel money out of communities. Starbucks operates or licenses around 39,500 cafes worldwide.

Stickers plastered on locally owned businesses show the Starbucks logo - which features a mermaid - on fire, with the mermaid's face replaced by La Calavera Catrina, a skull character associated with Mexico's Day of the Dead and that country's national identity.

After the first fire in August 2023, the word "NO" preceded by an expletive was spray-painted on the partially burned structure intended to be a Starbucks.