Hundreds of antsy people will crowd around the doors waiting to rush in, workers stumbling to prepare for all of the customers eager to try out Tenafly’s new hotspot. Mayhem will erupt, the streets will be bombarded with cars ready to get their vanilla lattes and caramel frappuccinos, and roads will be gridlocked with drivers hoping to stop and grab a drink from Starbucks.
An overpriced coffee, simply marked with a hunter green siren wearing a crown on the side of the cup, has American coffee lovers in a chokehold. It’s said that Starbucks is coffee heaven, arguably the greatest fast food coffee chain in history. Will it change the ambiance of Tenafly, if one opens in town? “The Starbucks in Closter is already filled with Tenafly kids,” Adin Goldshnieder (’27) said. “Now that Starbucks might be coming to Tenafly, I believe that it’ll be even more packed and have lots of kids. It will be very convenient for me because I can stop by for a coffee before I go to school.”
Every time I walk into the Closter Starbucks, I see lines of teenage girls and boys from different towns filling the fast food restaurant and waiting to get their trendy drinks, adults with their Macbooks and bluetooth headphones in the corner trying to finish their boss’s orders, and workers sprinting around trying to make as many drinks as possible in a matter of minutes. Would this work well in Tenafly?
Tenafly, known for its peaceful, under-the-radar vibe, has always seemed to keep free of any famous fast food chains. But if the Tenafly Planning Board approves a drive-thru Starbucks, all of that might just change. What once was a quiet town of silence with a modicum of traffic, will now become a place where people from all over the county can come and socialize with a drink and banana bread by their side. But some THS students think it’ll be a welcome addition.
“I believe that if Starbucks comes to Tenafly, it will definitely change the whole vibe of the town, but in a good way,” Niko Mzyk (’27) said. “It will bring in more customers not just from Tenafly but from other towns. I would really like to have a Starbucks in town because it would be very convenient and I could get a nice coffee.”
The last popular fast food chain to come to Tenafly was Subway. At first, it was a big hit, becoming the talk of the town and resulting in people from other towns come to try Tenafly’s new spot. But over time the hype died down, customers began to search for new and intriguing restaurants, and Subway started to look like a building from a zombie apocalypse, empty and lifeless. With no flow of customers coming its way, it shut down, never to be seen again.
Will the Tenafly Planning Board approve a Starbucks in the town? Or will the proposal crumble leaving Tenaflicians to continue making the ten-minute drive north to the Closter Plaza ?
