> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Starbucks conquers the last block on the Promenade - URL: https://www.smdp.com/starbucks-conquers-the-last-block-on-the-promenade/ - Published: 2003-01-25T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T01:23:33.000Z - Author: Andrew Fixmer - Tags: Business, Promenade, #archive-import *New restaurant opening in old Teaser’s location* In the latest strategic maneuver in Santa Monica’s coffee wars, Starbucks is about to stake claim on the last block of the Promenade. Another Starbucks plans to set up shop on the Third Street Promenade, soon to make its presence known on every block on the outdoor mall. Hear Music, a high-end CD retailer owned by Starbucks, has filed plans to add a cafe with an outdoor seating area to its store located at 1429 Third Street Promenade. The new location will be the 12th Starbucks in Santa Monica. And if that’s not enough saturation, the the gourmet coffee retailer will have locations on all three blocks of the Promenade. Competition could be fierce since more than a dozen coffee houses are already on the outdoor mall — sometimes less than 20 feet from one other. “There’s a lot out there, and they continue to do well,” said Rob York, a consultant for the Bayside District Corp, which manages downtown Santa Monica with city officials. “It’s hard not to question the amount of coffee available downtown. But I think we have to rely on the judgment of some of these business. They are in the market and they know what the potential is.” Bayside officials said even though Starbucks may be more of the same on the Promenade, at least it’s a place to sit down and get something to eat and drink. “We’re just happy there’s going to be more outdoor dining in that spot,” said Bayside executive director Kathleen Rawson. “It might be cool having an outdoor area combined with the music thing.” Councilman Herb Katz, who said he quit drinking coffee three years ago when he reached 10 cups a day, said he thinks Hear Music is a logical location for another Starbucks. “It would be nice to listen to music and sip coffee,” Katz said. “Whether it’s economical or if it’s feasible, that’s up to Starbucks. “If they can make it, so be it,” he added. “I’m amazed at how many coffee houses there are in L.A. and Santa Monica to begin with but it works.” And it appears more chain retailers have their eyes set on the Promenade. A United Colors of Benetton, a high end preppy clothing retailer, will move into the spot held by the locally-owned Midnight Special book store by the end of this summer. The politically left-leaning book store will close its Promenade location at the end of February because rents along the outdoor mall have increased well above what the store can afford to pay, said Margie Ghiz, the store’s owner. For more than 10 years, Midnight Special’s landlord, Wally Marks, has subsidized the store’s rent, allowing it to maintain a visible presence on the Promenade. Marks believed in the store and tried to encourage its success, Ghiz said. Now Ghiz is looking at two downtown locations for the bookstore to move into, one of which is on Santa Monica Boulevard near the Promenade, York said. “It’ll be in the district and it will enhance an area that has room to grow,” York said. “They are a destination but they also want to be in an area with foot traffic and hopefully we can find the right mix for them.” Benetton plans to significantly renovate the store before it opens, York said. “It will be a nice, quality store,” he said. “There aren’t a ton of Benettons around and I think they’ll do reasonably well.” And it appears other changes are brewing for the Promenade’s storefronts. The city’s planning department has approved Barney’s Beanery, the famous Route 66 Roadhouse diner, to open a restaurant at 1351 Third Street Promenade, the former location of Teaser’s. Construction on the new store should commence within days, officials said. The restaurant almost was prohibited from opening when planning officials believed owners of the restaurant would need to go through a public process for getting a new alcohol permit. But business interests and the city council intervened, and asked the plan-ning department to intercede and find a way for the diner to open using the permit previously held by Teasers. Going through the process of getting a new permit could have taken more than a year, and even then there was no guarantee a permit would have been granted. “It’s all been cleared up and the city approved them to be the tenant in that space,” York said. “And that was extremely important for timing reasons.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 25, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/012503.pdf?ref=smdp.com)