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Fight Building To Keep Starbucks Out Of North End

BOSTON (CBS) – Starbucks would like to bring one of its stores to the North End, but there's a strong push to keep them out.

The coffee chain wants to open a shop at the corner of Hanover and Cross streets, replacing a bank and a nail salon.

starbucks north end
A rendering of the proposed Starbucks in the North End. (Image credit: North End Piazza on the Greenway - Facebook)

More than 1,000 people have signed a petition on change.org to stop the proposed construction. The creator of that petition says the North End has one of the few surviving Little Italy neighborhoods in the United States.

"Starbucks doesn't belong in this little Italian neighborhood, you know, like other places they don't belong over here already," said Franco Graceffa, owner of Dolce Vita Ristorante.

People believe this Starbucks would have a negative impact on the locally-owned shops around the neighborhood.

"If we let them in, what's next? Olive Garden? McDonald's? Kentucky Fried Chicken? This cannot happen, this is a historic, iconic neighborhood," said Damien DiPaolo of the North End.

North End
Boston's North End (WBZ-TV)

Residents and business owners in the North End are trying desperately to hold onto their traditions. Starbucks is not one of them.

The online petition also notes that there are more than 10 Starbucks locations within a half-mile of the site.

"Doesn't fit. It just doesn't make sense. There's one across the street – brand new one – Faneuil Hall going in, also on the Freedom Trail," said Mivan Spencer, of Caffe Dello Sport.

WBZ-TV's Juli McDonald reports

In the North End, even the tourists don't want to see a change.

"It would definitely not fit here," one man said.

It was standing room only at a development meeting Thursday night. For more than two and a half hours, North End neighbors past and present said "no way" to the Starbucks plan.

"It's like a museum and you are defacing it by putting that kind of building here," one woman said.

The coffee giant believes independent stores and small chains can continue to grow and thrive along with Starbucks.

"Times have changed. We know that. Sixty percent of the people who live here now are 18-34," said Daniel Toscano, attorney for Starbucks. "There are businesses like Starbucks that do cater to the demographic of the neighborhood."

The proposals will go before two neighborhood groups in early July, then to the zoning and licensing boards.

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