From a cute Victorian house nestled into east Hyde Park, the Coffee Emporium has sold gourmet coffee since 1973, and espresso and other coffee drinks since 1996. It is a charming, quirky spot and a neighborhood hangout.

        A block down Erie Avenue, on a busy corner, there's a new coffee shop. Sporting its familiar sleek lines and black, white and green color scheme, a Starbucks has opened.

        For anyone who prefers the small and personal to the slick and national, the sight prompts the question: How long will Coffee Emporium last? How does any small coffee shop cope with the kind of competition that comes from a huge international brand looming close by?

        “I wasn't too thrilled when they opened,” says Tony Tausch, who owns Coffee Emporium with his wife, Eileen Schwab.

        He knows his competition: “As of May 27, they had 4,303 stores, with 3,500 of them in the U.S.,” he reports. And he's heard rumors about Starbucks opening another 100 stores between Columbus and Louisville.

        Nevertheless, he says, “it's funny, our business has been doing just fine since they opened.”

        These are Mr. Tausch's strategies: being as different as possible; relying on loyal customers; roasting his own coffee; and competing on price and quality.

        “There are people who come in here every single day,” he says. “It's an evolving, eclectic group of people every morning. Many are friends. I went to two block parties recently, one where I live, and one here on Victoria Avenue. I knew a lot more people at the one where I work than the one where I live.”

        Angie Nolte, who owns one of the original gourmet coffee stands in the city, Kaffee Klatsch, in the Mercantile Building, downtown, competes with three Starbucks nearby. She is taking a more direct approach to the competition. She's running a series of anti-Starbucks ads created by Loren Allan and Odioso with the theme “Great coffee without the corporate aftertaste.”

        But in many ways, Starbucks shapes Ms. Nolte's decisions. Her customers visit Starbucks, and they expect things they've encountered there. She's changed procedures to make service faster. Starbucks has a 20-ounce coffee; maybe she'll add one.

        But it's the differences she counts on to stay in business.

        “My coffee is locally roasted, and I serve it the next day,” she says. “We play funky music. We don't wear uniforms. My store's not all perfect, it never will be, and I think people appreciate that.”

        If local coffee shops can co-exist with Starbucks, they still may face another challenge: McDonald's is test-marketing a coffee cafe. It's called (what else?) McCafe.

        Contact Polly Campbell by phone: (513) 768-8376; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: pcampbell@enquirer.com.

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