The base of the roof is lined with red neon lighting. The exterior has a neon "OPEN" sign and is painted white with black cow spots just like those old Gateway 2000 computer boxes. It's literally just a small wooden shack with a door for employees and a drive-thru/walk-up window for customers. Upon seeing the business, I was unimpressed. I was on a bachelor party trip in Seattle and our Seattle wine tour guide suggested our group stop by here since it was conveniently located next door to one of our wine stops (Charles Smith). I'm not an expert, but I believe it is one of the more established bikini barista "brands" out there (established in 2002). It's one of two in Seattle and is sandwiched between King County International Airport and Charles Smith Wines Jet City. This Cowgirls Espresso is one of over a dozen locations in Washington. There are numerous shops of this type scattered all over the Seattle-Tacoma metro. What is a bikini barista? It's a scantily clad young lady that serves coffee, tea, and other non-alcoholic drinks out of a drive-thru/walk-up stand. It's an interesting concept which took off in the Seattle area in the early 2000s, though it hasn't spread much elsewhere since. “I think Fayetteville is better than this, I have nothing against the business owner, make all the money you want, but keep it within the walls of the establishment,” Howe said.īailey said his baristas are just working to draw more customers while the weather is still nice, but once December starts to feel like December, the baristas will likely remain inside.Cowgirls Espresso was my first experience with a bikini barista coffee shop. “If the girls weren’t comfortable then we’re doing something wrong, and the girls love coming to work every single day for the outfits and for the fun they get to have with the customers,” Bailey said.īut Howe said the location of Thursday’s barista, just blocks from Fayetteville High, and just outside the University of Arkansas campus, sends a bad message. “Obviously, men may come by here more for the service and the smile, but women will come by here because they actually like enjoy the coffee,”Īnd Bailey said the support of the staff and customers reaffirms his faith in his business model. “It’s wrong to impose what she’s showing, and previewing and putting out there to people who don’t have choice,” Howe said.īailey said his shop caters to men and women, the outfits are just a way to make his business stand out, and his baristas say the customers keep coming back. “We’re not doing anything that you couldn’t see at your local pool or the beach,” Cody Bailey, Cowgirls Espresso owner said. “It’s distractive, it’s lude, it’s suggestive to a younger generation,” Marla Howe said.Ĭowgirl’s owner, Cody Bailey said he doesn’t see an issue with what the baristas wear. Something the business owner said he’s okay with, but others said it sends a bad message.Ĭowgirls Espresso is a full-service, drive-thru coffee shop, and Marla Howe, a Fayetteville resident, said she didn’t’ have a problem with the business until Thursday, when she saw one of Cowgirl’s baristas on the corner of Razorback Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard, in a bikini, with a sign promoting the coffee shop. A Fayetteville coffee shop is causing a bit of an uproar over its stripped-down business model that’s making it stand out from other shops in town.Ĭowgirls Espresso has been in business since September, but Thursday, in an attempt to draw in more customers, one of their baristas took to the streets in her bikini.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |