Starbucks Corp. brewed up annual revenues of $2.65 billion before opening its nearly 3,000th U.S. store at 647 Mass. in downtown Lawrence.

But the international juggernaut’s opening Dec. 10 hasn’t cooled sales at La Prima Tazza, the one-town, one-store, one-menu operation across the street.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s hurt us,” said Laurel Wimberg, who manages the 11-year-old shop at 638 Mass. “We just focus on the things we have that are good and different. We’re going to concentrate on our business.

“All the coffee shops downtown and other snack places, everybody has different stuff. I don’t think one store can change that.”

As Lawrence has continued to grow, it has drawn increasing interest from national retailers interested in locating downtown, out west or along South Iowa Street. That has spawned increasing discussion and heated emotions about whether there’s still room for the little guy. And many wonder how the city can meet the market’s needs while maintaining the community’s unique nature.

But observers of the process know such evolution simply is a part of business life, one that needs to be reacted to positively instead of complained about constantly.

Heated debates

“The national chains just bring a mix to a community, and it’s all across the nation,” said Marty Kennedy, general manager of Kennedy Glass Inc., 730 N.J. “They’re in every town, and they just do a great merchandising campaign. They’re the best at that.

“We have to keep up our quality services and quality products. That’s the only way you can stay in business. It’s just part of the retail business.”

After all whether it’s a home-grown coffee shop or a Seattle-based expansion machine like Starbucks the goal is the same. Businesses want to secure a solid niche in a marketplace, serve their customers well and make people happy enough that they’ll come back for more.

Starbucks and La Prima Tazza are no different in that way.

“We are excited about becoming a part of the community,” said Dennis Brockman, Starbucks district manager.

Still, plans for national chains often trigger heated debates, whether it’s inside coffee shops or the meeting rooms at City Hall. Longtime residents have been known to bemoan the arrival of chain stores, arguing that they drain the city’s sense of uniqueness. Many other residents, however, welcome the new shopping choices and the end of special trips to Topeka or the Kansas City area that they bring.

About the only certainty in such issues is the struggle involved.

‘Just business’

Developers have been scrambling for three years to build a Home Depot northeast of 31st and Iowa streets, on property once occupied by Gaslight Village mobile home park. But critics have attacked the plan, saying it came with too much baggage involving drainage, traffic, access and road-improvement costs.

A month ago, Lawrence city commissioners on a divisive 3-2 vote cleared the way for the project by approving $3.3 million in road reconstruction costs; city taxpayers are expected to pick up as much as $1.34 million of the tab.

As other developers angled to cajole the high-dollar Home Depot store to their projects, representatives for the 31st and Iowa streets site held firm. Despite persistent criticism, commissioners set the regulatory foundation for the project.

Kennedy, a commissioner and former mayor, voted with the majority, even though his glass business could lose customers to the massive home-improvement powerhouse.

“They have a choice of 40 different kinds of storm doors,” he said. “We only have a choice of a third of that many. They have a larger product line. They have many more products to choose from.

“It’s the hazard of competition, but that’s just business.”

Keeping options open

Lewis Nerman is among area businessmen following the proceedings closely. Earlier this year, the investor from Leawood bought the former home of Payless Cashways in Lawrence.

The site at 3434 Iowa a 73,500-square-foot building, a 4.5-acre lumberyard and a 278-space parking lot is available for lease, whether it’s for a home-improvement center or something else that pays the bills.

And whether it’s national, regional or local doesn’t appear to matter.

“I like to keep all my options open,” Nerman said. “I’ve talked to people from the local scene and talked to people on a national basis for everything from a convention center to home improvement, the whole gamut.

“I just look at the creditworthiness of the tenant. Each one has to stand on its own merit.”

The same is true for David Anderson, who is shopping for a tenant to occupy a vacant lot on Massachusetts Street, just south of the historic Eldridge Hotel.

Dale Miller owns the property, which he intends to develop with a four-story building that includes retail on the first floor and offices and possibly loft-style apartments upstairs.

“I think that the streetscape in downtown Lawrence is very attractive and very well done, and Mr. Miller has given us the assignment of coming up with another retail user who will add to or enhance what’s been done so far,” said Anderson, leasing associate broker for LaSala-Sonnenberg Commercial Realty Co. in Overland Park. “Whether that’s local or national, I don’t think makes a difference.

“It’s just a quality tenant quality in terms of merchandise and the way they display their products and the way they service their customers. That’s what matters.”