Starbucks to Charbucks: Taos chafes at coffee chain

TAOS, New Mexico, Aug 24 (Reuters) - After two arson attacks at a Starbucks (SBUX.O) construction site in Taos, New Mexico, a developer is trying again to build the chain’s first drive-through cafe in the mountain town with a history of revolts and opposition by some to national chains.

It did not take long for locals in this community of 6,500 to come up with a nickname for the would-be coffee shop: “Charbucks.” Meanwhile, the building contractor from Albuquerque, the state’s largest city, has installed video cameras and a security guard sleeps at the site in a camouflage trailer.

Just over a mile north of the site of the store, which Starbucks hopes to open in the spring of 2025, patrons at one of Taos’ oldest independent coffee shops are tight-lipped about the attacks.

“We don’t know who did it, but we loved it,” said Todd Lazar, a holistic healer, as he chatted with other regulars on a bench outside the World Cup, just off Taos’ central plaza.