Surviving Starbucks

Is it possible for small coffee shops to survive the shadow of Starbucks? Apparently so.

For some of Seattle's independent proprietors, the decision to keep things at a smaller scale is in part about quality of life. Dow Lucurell wakes up at 4:30 a.m. and gets his first latte of the day at the Uptown Espresso in Queen Anne, before embarking on a 12- to 14-hour day that will often take him to each of the seven Uptown locations he owns in Seattle.

The hours may seem long, but Lucurell says he knows the names of all 63 of his employees and has a job that allows him to have long lunches with his buddies or coffee with his parents. It's a life he says he wouldn't be able to maintain if he were running a bigger coffee chain or trying to answer to shareholders, like Starbucks does.

"I've always had a great niche," he said.

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