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EVliving.com:

When Jim Thompson committed to open Dutch Bros. Coffee shops throughout the Valley in 2006, he did not foresee the economic crisis that was to follow.

“We didn’t know there was going to be a recession,” the franchisee for the greater Phoenix area said, “but we had spent so darn much money in the process…our decision was to go ahead with it.”

But fears of the lagging economy affecting this discretionary-income-driven business seem distant and Thompson looks forward to the future.

A drive-thru, a small patio and a royal blue roof make Dutch Bros. hard to miss on the Northwest corner of North Gilbert and East McKellips roads in Mesa.

Thompson opened this store on Aug. 28, making it the fifth Arizona Dutch Bros. to open in 10 months, and gave away 2,500 free drinks that day. It was “the biggest grand opening” out of all Valley locations, said Thompson.

The next day, the Mesa store recorded almost $2,000 in sales, which made it “the highest dollar sales” of all Arizona Dutch Bros. to date, according to Thompson. “It’s like a community (in Mesa),” he said. “The people were actually waiting for us to be there.”

Dutch Bros. customer and self-proclaimed former Starbucks fiend, Jodi Alexander, said “I taste the burnt espresso there (at Starbucks), so I love that there’s a Dutch Bros. close-by now. And it’s nice that I don’t have to take my son out his car seat; we can just drive right through.”

A drive-thru is key to competing with a nearby Starbucks, according to professional coffee house consultant, Alex Fisenko’s website, espressobusiness.com. “The best possible location to open a coffee drive-thru is next to a Starbucks without a drive-thru.”