Eugene Coffee Company is another small local business that has made major location changes. The local Eugene business moved from Chambers Street closer to the University on 17th Avenue. I believe the location move was a good strategic move for Eugene Coffee Company. The coffee shop had great success in its previously location and the move to the University district I think will bring it even more success. The University district is highly populated and full of highly caffeinated college students. Although Starbucks is a huge chain with multiple locations in the district, true coffee lovers will be attracted to a small, local business for a good cup of joe rather than a huge corporation.
Eugene Coffee Company did an excellent job informing its loyal customers that there has been a change in locations. The company utilized its social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, to keep the customers up-to-date with its events and its move. The small coffee company also used Yelp to let people know they moved to the University district and an announcement on their website. I thought the coffee business did a good job, using every platform possible to inform people that they small business has moved.
According to the Eugene Coffee Company website and an article in Eugene Daily News, the business has more to offer than just great coffee and pastries. Throughout the months of January and February, Eugene Coffee Company offers barista lessons in its shop. In these barista lessons, they learn to cashier properly, provide customer service, learn about fair trade and local buying, work along current barista’s at Eugene Coffee Company, take orders and serve customers, take the food handler’s card test, and valuable interview skills. I believe this is a great ploy to get more people to come into the coffee shop. Many people, including college students, look for jobs on and around campus and many require barista skills. Having these lessons available can bring in a lot of customers and profits into the local coffee shop.
The coffee not only provides barista classes but also monthly events including Silent Coffee, which is a monthly gathering for persons who use sign language as their primary language and others who are interested in learning the language, and Women’s Coffee Club, which is a club which rotates around different coffee shops around the community as a way for women to meet and socialize. Events like these also bring in a lot of new customers and money for the small business.
I think that the Eugene Coffee Company uses a lot of good tactics to promote its business, including its new location near the University of Oregon. They use social media and website posts to keep in contact with its customers. Living across the street from this newly located coffee shop, I constantly see people in the shop and see the success growing as more people find out about its location.