It would make her city a “destination”. If a Starbucks makes your city a destination, that’s just sad.
I just looked on Google maps. There must be at least 20 Starbucks within a 10-minute drive from me. Around here, you can practically trip over a Starbucks.
In rural Texas, the minimum standard for a place to be a destination is that it has a Dairy Queen.
When I was in college, one of my friends had an interview in Johnson City, TN. He was a fairly sophisticated guy, having been raised on Long Island, and used to good food and nightlife. He asked the interviewer what kind of good restaurants they had in town, and the guy paused, thought for awhile and said “well, we have a Red Lobster.”
He didn’t take the job.
Had friends move to the middle of Michigan, and we asked them how they liked it, and the husband’s comment was “The ethnic restaurant here is Olive Garden.”
“Sophisticated”? Have you ever been on Long Island?
Brooklyn has some of the best eating in the world.
Ha! They probably had eleventy-jillion different BBQ joints in that county offering ribs that a Manhattan-ite would pay a fortune for.
Man cannot live by BBQ alone.
(But, it might be worth a try…)
@mixdenny: What’s a “mayer”?
Someone who gives permission? E.g. in “Mother may I go outside?” who is the mayee and who is the mayer? You (well me actually) can make a decent argument either way.
It’s a guy who sells hot dogs.
Baloney!
That’s the way we pronounce it in NE Ohio. Or someone who likes James May.
Maybe so but when I hear Long Island, it’s not Brooklyn that crosses my mind.
We almost moved (from LI) to a small town in NJ that was abuzz over the imminent opening of a Dunkin Donuts. It didn’t work out for a lot of reasons but the excitement of the locals about the big news was not helpful in convincing my family about the move.
Quote of the week!
The Hamptons? 
I mean…yes? It is sad. It’s actually, really, literally sad. Her town is dying. The municipality is in debt and doesn’t have a tax base sufficient to keep its services operating. It’s on the verge of a death spiral, if it’s not already in one. They’ll have to cut services, which makes them a less attractive destination for residents and businesses, which makes them a less attractive destination for businesses and residents, which means their tax base will continue to decrease, which means they’ll have to cut services…
Look at some of the responses in this thread. Best restaurant in town is a Red Lobster? Hard pass. Just getting a Dunkin’ Donuts? Hard pass. There are literally people who won’t even consider re-locating to a community because it doesn’t have the right eateries. A Starbucks means 1) actual economic activity, 2) possibly drawing in money from the surrounding area to the municipal tax district, 3) a possibility that it might make a difference in the calculations of potential incoming residents and businesses.
But, of course, a Starbucks almost certainly isn’t going to make the difference. And Starbucks apparently decided not to open up a franchise there, after all.
So, yeah, it’s sad.
There are relatively few Starbucks in the entire Cleveland metropolitan area. There are only 55 there. Starbucks has been closing stores this year because of the pandemic. It’s not surprising that a given suburb doesn’t have a Starbucks.
According to the link in the OP, rumors of Maple Heights’ death have been greatly exaggerated. An Amazon fulfillment center has brought new revenue to the town.
Additionally, the parent company of Purcell is going to start manufacturing surface spray, potentially bringing 200 new jobs into town.