STARBUCKS TAKES BIG STEP IN BRINGING DALLAS' SOUTHWEST CENTER MALL BACK TO LIFE
A Starbucks opening Friday near Southwest Center Mall isn't just any coffee shop.
The store on Camp Wisdom Road lights up like a little jewel box at night, one that brings tears of joy to those who have waited decades for good things to start happening at a once-vibrant mall in southern Dallas County. "This is a project of love. It's meaningful for me, personally," said Traci York, Starbucks' regional vice president responsible for 750 stores in Texas and three other states. "Seeing our logo on this new building, I had to gather myself."
This Starbucks is one of a dozen locations — community stores, as the company describes them — that hire and train young people from underserved neighborhoods around them. It's also meant to be a catalyst for the mall's comeback.
York grew up in the Red Bird and Duncanville area as a teen and young adult when her mother was teaching at South Oak Cliff High School. They shopped at the mall, and she worked at a Black-eyed Pea restaurant down the road. For special occasions, her family went to Steak and Ale. Both restaurants and dozens of other businesses closed many years ago in the area of Dallas called Red Bird.
Now other teens from the area will start their working years at the newest Starbucks under York's wing.
When asked to transfer from her Starbucks in nearby Cedar Hill, Erykah London, 18, said she didn't hesitate.
"I wanted to throw myself out there," London said. "I appreciated being a part of the new chances this Starbucks will be giving to other young people."
Starbucks is her first job, and London said she knew working there would "bring out the best in me." London described herself as shy and awkward but said she's making progress as she figures out what else she wants to do with her life.
That's where local nonprofit Generation comes in. It has partnered with Starbucks to use in-store training space to provide career path counseling classes for people ages 16 to 29 from the Red Bird area.
A new Starbucks is opening in the parking area of Southwest Center Mall in the Red Bird area of Dallas.
The new Starbucks in Dallas on Nov. 28, 2018. The new store in the parking area of Southwest Center Mall, will open on Friday, Nov. 30 in the Red Bird area of Dallas.
Demetra Brown, Generation's program manager, said the first class will begin Jan. 7 and applications are being accepted online at generation.org and at the new Starbucks on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The plan is to have 200 people go through the program over the next two years.
Generation is looking for people "who are looking for opportunities, but they have barriers ... a child, a record, no transportation," Brown said. "They just need help plugging in."
Demetra Brown, program manager at Generation.
What's taught are communications skills, resume and interview prep, "but also empathy, money management, child care planning," Brown said. "It's holistic lifestyle skills, with role play and simulated case studies."
She said the program guarantees job interviews and mentor relationships that continue after the six weeks. There's assistance available to get to the Starbucks for the Monday through Thursday classes and some financial incentives.
Employers who have agreed to interview people in the program are Dallas-based Headington Cos., which operates the Joule Hotel and several restaurants, and two other downtown Dallas hotels, Magnolia Hotel and Hilton Garden Inn.
They could also end up working for Vania Perez, 26, the new Starbucks manager. She's been getting her team of 25 together since August and was tapped to lead the store a couple of years ago. She's visited a similar store in Miami Gardens and has been learning from other community store managers on regularly scheduled conference calls.
COMMUNITY STORES
Community stores have opened in 11 other cities, including East Baltimore, Englewood on Chicago's Southside and Ferguson, Mo.
The Red Bird area is perceived as being a higher-crime area and Perez said she's conscious of that. Mall security and Dallas police patrols will be attentive, she said: "They're going to be aware of us, but not hovering over us."
At a groundbreaking last year, the police department had a big show of support and officers have been at outreach events, Perez said. "They can't wait," she said.
Edmund Young, 26, of Cedar Hill, is a shift supervisor at the new store. He's been a bartender, done contract work, worked at UPS and helped his mother with his siblings. He's the oldest of six children; the youngest is 5 years old. He wants to be an engineer and just enrolled in Navarro College in Midlothian.
"When I applied to work at Starbucks, I needed a flexible job and I love people. I'm extremely thankful," Young said. "My eyes are wide open. I'm excited to be part of this."
The store's mission is to become a community gathering spot used by other businesses, schools and neighborhood groups. And it's intended to inspire other investments.
"We wanted to go first, and we thought that we could lead other businesses here," York said.
SETTING THE TONE
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, other local officials and spiritual leaders have conveyed a vision for the mall, she said. So has developer Peter Brodsky, who purchased much of the mall a couple of years ago and has received assistance from the city to redevelop it.
Starbucks had to set the tone and be "top of the line," Brodsky said in an interview. "This whole redevelopment is about changing perceptions. That happens slowly. When we tell folks that the median income within a 5-mile radius is more than $60,000, that's not what they expect. Many still think it's a war zone.
"Starbucks deserves a lot of credit for wanting to be first," Brodsky said.
So far, the Dallas Entrepreneur Center opened in the mall in October and Jarvis Christian College of Hawkins will open an extension campus in January, said Terrence Maiden, executive vice present at Corinth Properties, which is working with Brodsky to redevelop the mall.
Groundbreaking for the redevelopment will be in late spring, Maiden said. A Marriott hotel is starting construction later next year. New street grids and about 100,000 square feet of what is now the mall's food court area will be the first phase of construction, he said.
Inside this Starbucks, there's a large seating area, a full menu and the latest Nitro and regular cold brew taps. It has a drive-through lane and seating in a covered patio. There are bike racks and a bus stop right out front, with a new walkway leading to it.
For Maiden, who also grew up in Oak Cliff and lives in the area, it's so much more.
Starbucks is "the front door of the property," he said. "It makes a statement."