fuck starbucks

Today, conversing with my dear friend from home, Chris G, I was informed of a truly upsetting fact: The Living Room, one of my favourite coffee shops in Saskatoon, has closed down after a few years of struggling to compete with a Starbucks that had moved in two doors down from them.

The Living Room was located on my favourite street in the city, very close to the house I grew up in. It's been a fixture of my life for long enough that I can't remember when I started frequenting it. As I got older, the atmosphere became a little more formal, but for a long time the Living Room was all about mismatched mugs, squashy, beat-up armchairs, and comfortably dim lighting. Gradually, they bought a new set of mugs and fixed up some of the chairs, got classier-looking menus, etc, but it was the same place. It always retained that air of comfort and the coffee was always good. And the sandwiches! Were huge. And delicious.

Here are some of my favourite memories of The Living Room:

15 years old, with Nassim, Daniel, and Bailey. During outdoor school. We were cold and had just seen a play at the Broadway Theatre (which I would work at four years later). I was feeling jittery and sick and Nassim seemed to get it and said "Just drink this peppermint tea," very kindly and quietly.

16 years old, meeting my friend Ryan for the first time. I had seen an ad he put up looking for folks to join a post-rock band, pounced on it, and called the number. We met on a school night and sat near the back (left side, Saskatonians, closer to the kitchen). I was wearing a Spiderman t-shirt, and he asked me if I had ever heard of Animal Collective (I hadn't at the time). He showed me his sketchbook and told me about this girl he was madly in love with (soon to be my friend, because that's how Saskatoon rolls). We were friends fast, and although our band (Kingdom Protista) was short-lived, we did play a few good shows.

17 years old, skipping school with Lisa and Orlanda. Eating huge sandwiches with hummus. We laughed a lot but wondered if we were going to drift apart (we did). Going down by the Meewasin afterwards and getting our shoes dusty. We didn't go back to school that day.

19 years old, on an afternoon after a sleepless night. Luke and I met and talked about Before Sunrise/Sunset and Annie Hall at the table closest to the coat rack. I felt nervous about making too much or too little eye contact. It was a sunny-shivery day and we went to sit on Nutana's fire escape after and got too cold.

I've never set foot in that Starbucks, and I never ever will.