GREENVILLE

Starbucks hits Thiel

For years, Starbucks coffee houses have been springing up in shopping centers and college towns nearly everywhere, except in Mercer County.

The Seattle-based gourmet coffee brewer’s shunning of this region ended with the start of the academic year at Thiel College.

Tucked in the snack bar at the college’s Rotunda Bistro in the newly renovated Howard Miller Student Center are Starbucks espresso machines, flavored coffees and Tazo Premium teas.

About 150 people attended an open house at the center Sunday and enjoyed samples of Starbucks coffee. The center and bistro remain open to the public.

The introduction of Starbucks took eight months of persistence by college President Dr. Lance A. Masters.

"I got a (Starbucks) representative to visit, but only after calling them six times," Masters said.

Starbucks’ demographic and income surveys of the region considered this area as poor and rust belt, Masters said. The company doubted enough people would plunk down $1.35 for a cup of their premium coffee. Starbucks prefers cities and high traffic areas, he said.

After a Starbucks representative strolled through the classically designed Rotunda Bistro, he was sold on Thiel and agreed to make Starbucks coffees and teas available for sale there, Masters said.

Starbucks and college officials are quick to emphasize that this is not a franchise, but simply Starbucks products available for sale to the public, students, and faculty.

Masters said if students are going to make the major investment in a college education at Thiel, they should at least be able to get the best coffee they can. "We want students and faculty to be treated well," he said.

"We offer a quality education and one of the ways you demonstrate that is with brand names. People are looking for brand names," Masters said.

The three-phase renovation of Howard Miller Student Center began in 1996. The final phase was completed in June.

A hub of student activity, the building now houses the college post office and bookstore, offices and art galleries, as well as the student services department and the college infirmary which had been located elsewhere on campus.

Also located in the rotunda area are a lounge and the new Lutheran Heritage Room, a 200-seat multipurpose room for student events, community programs and special dinners. Churches in the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America raised over $300,000 for the construction and furnishing of the room.

The Howard Miller Student Center will be dedicated at 11 a.m. Oct. 7 during homecoming weekend.