The Delocator

Cafés are vital social outposts that have historically provided subjective, social, local, and at times, irrational interaction, inspiration, and nourishment to artists, hipsters, musicians, activists, intellectuals, radicals, and others alike. Currently, independently owned cafés around the world are under aggressive attack; and their numbers have been sharply decreasing for many years. delocator.net is a means to preserve these local businesses.

Transnational corporations, like Starbucks, Diedrich, Gloria Jean’s, and the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf are at the forefront of this assault. Starbucks is the most powerful. Once an independently owned café themselves, Starbucks now has over six thousand “stores” in the United States and more than ten thousand worldwide. Each store is designed to deliver the authentic coffeehouse experience. The only way to accomplish this and be profitable and competitive is by making all of the stores identical: …

Delocate is a web-verb created for this project as a defense mechanism for independent business establishments. The term is defined as an action that creates complex competition analysis. This is achieved by locating both the targeted corporation store(s), Starbucks in this case, and the independently owned alternative(s) based on their physical proximity using comparative online retail store locator technology. On the delocator.net web site, users are enlisted into a temporary coalition to post information about cafés in their neighborhood (for instance, location, hours, open mic. nights, local artist exhibits, book readings, wireless internet service availability, organic and/or vegetarian food options, etc.). Those who supply the database also have the opportunity to leave their email addresses, as a method of endorsing the café and leaving a trace of authenticity to the location postings on the site. …