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Coffee Time

JasonParis

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Haven't been yet, but I think there's an excess of java now in the [St.Lawrence] neighbourhood...Cafe on Britain, The Commisary, Tim Horton's, Savoury Grounds, Coffee Time (twice), Second Cup, Starbucks, etc.
 
It says something about the neighbourhood that there's *still* two Coffee Times there.

Anyone else think that chain's days just might be numbered?
 
One of the saving graces is that if you need to goto a coffee shop to grab your morning java, say at 4 in the morning on your way to catch an early flight, Coffee Time (i.e 222 The Esplanade) is open while the entire city is still sleeping.

But yeah, Coffee Times hey days were back in the late 90's, when smoking in coffee shops was abundant and good for business. Too bad the smell still remains.

Tim Hortons in the downtown Path, man, is there ever not a lineup?
 
But yeah, Coffee Times hey days were back in the late 90's, when smoking in coffee shops was abundant and good for business. Too bad the smell still remains.

Coffee Times also kept the enclosed smoking areas right to the end, and the stench and smoke would pour through the whole store anyway (remembering the last time I was at a Coffee Time about three years ago).

Tim Horton's was the first chain to go either smoke-free or install the ventilated areas long before it was mandatory (and most of those smoking areas were gone before they were later banned). I thought it might suffer at the time, but they've kept getting busier.

So I'd argue whether smoking in coffee shops was good for business. It only further marginalized Coffee Times as Tim Horton's, then Country Style, went the other way.
 
Not to mention that there was something inherently degraded about an "enclosed smoking area", anyway, esp. the glassed-in Coffee Time sort. It had a real way of painting the desperate need to smoke indoors as the realm of the Fred Victor Mission demo...
 
Owner of downtown coffee shop accused of selling drugs
Posted: January 10, 2008, 11:16 PM by Barry Hertz
Crime

The owner of a Coffee Time at one of Toronto’s seediest corners has been selling customers more than coffee and donuts, Toronto police say.

The Post's Kelly Grant reports:
The shop on Queen Street East and Sherbourne Avenue — which locals call “Crack Time†— is an alleged den of illicit activities.

In less than an hour of watching the location on Wednesday night, detectives allegedly caught the store’s 46-year-old owner selling pot to a patron and buying cheese and halal meats from a customer who had stolen the food from a store in Thorncliffe Park.

“I have a file as tall as myself on this site,†said Councillor Pam McConnell, whose ward includes the Coffee Time. “It’s had a long history of being a place where people knew they could go in and buy more than a cup of coffee.â€

Police arrested the Coffee Time’s owner, Paul Karathanasis, around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

He is charged with trafficking marijuana, possessing marijuana and cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possessing the proceeds of crime and possessing stolen property.

A search of the shop turned up 219 grams of marijuana divided into 192 dime bags, a dozen of which were in a margarine tub behind the counter.

The rest were stocked in the shop’s basement, said Detective John Margetson of 51 Division.

Police also seized 3.22 grams of crack cocaine, two garbage bags full of illegal cigarettes and $25,000 in cash. The crack was allegedly found on Mr. Karathanasis.

Det. Margetson said Coffee Times are often magnets for drug dealing because they keep long hours and tend to be located in down-at-heel pockets of the city.

But the dealing usually takes place among customers in the store, not behind the counter, he said. “This is the only time we’ve ever had an owner or employee actually involved in the trafficking.â€

The Queen and Sherbourne Coffee Time was open yesterday morning. A handful of people smoked out front, including June Clements, 65. A regular at the shop, she said it was common knowledge that the owner sold cigarettes at his counter, but she was surprised to hear police had seized pot and hard drugs from the store.

“I knew he was selling cigarettes, not drugs,†Ms. Clements said.

Trafficking at the Coffee Time became so bad three years ago that the city tried to revoke the previous owner’s business licence, she said. That owner sold the franchise to Mr. Karathanasis.

“A fresh face came in and told us they’d turn the page. It takes you at least the first chapter to realize, no, it’s the same old book,†Ms. McConnell said.

A call to Coffee Time’s corporate office went unreturned.
 
One of the saving graces is that if you need to goto a coffee shop to grab your morning java, say at 4 in the morning on your way to catch an early flight, Coffee Time (i.e 222 The Esplanade) is open while the entire city is still sleeping.

But yeah, Coffee Times hey days were back in the late 90's, when smoking in coffee shops was abundant and good for business. Too bad the smell still remains.

I think it speaks volumes that you can still smell cigarette smoke in these joints and still see nicotine resin on their store windows.

I made the mistake of taking a bus to NYC a couple of years ago. The driver kept stopping for "safety breaks" (translation, coffee and cigarette breaks) at about every 3rd highway stop with a Dunkin' Donuts going through New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Worst coffee I've ever had, simply undrinkable.
 
There were seven or eight police cars, all with red and blue lights flashing in front of Coffee Time at Eglinton and Brimley about an hour ago. Either something bad happened in the store, or they were having a free coffee and donut special.

I'd be very surprised to see this scene at a Tim Horton's, but not a Coffee Time.

Dunkin Donuts' coffee is bad. Thankfully, Tim Horton's can be found along Interstate 90 between Toledo and Rochester. There are also a few on Interstate 77 from Erie south all the way into West Virginia. They also (used to?) be big in Quebec - in fact, the only Dunkins I've seen in Ontario are off Highway 417 east of Ottawa.
 
Coffee Crime.

The crackhouse of coffee shops. At least they are consistent at being bad.
 

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