Clonestopping

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Costa Coffee: the rapaciously expansionist brand that makes Starbucks seem quaint and slow-moving by comparison.

Totnes, Devon: the town that said No.

Totnes’s local economy looks to be in reasonable health, which is surely down to the fact that it is about as far from being what we now call a “clone town” as could be imagined. The local record shop, Drift, is mind-bogglingly great: the kind of place that you’d think was amazing if you found it in New York. The quality and diversity of restaurants is amazing. Most pertinently, the town has 42 independently run outlets that serve coffee, and – so far – not a single branch of any of the big caffeine-selling multiples.

Now, though, Costa – whose most visible slogan remains “Saving the world from mediocre coffee” – is on its way, as part of programme of expansion that will look either worryingly aggressive or admirably ambitious, depending on your point of view.

Totnes: The Town That Declared War On Global Capitalism (John Harris, The Guardian)

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