Better Latte Than Never: Funeral Home Adds Starbucks For Mourners . . . And Walk-Ins

What is appropriate as a caffeinated drink at a funeral? A Frappuccino seems a bit festive but a Caramel Macchiato seems too loud for the occasion. Perhaps a specialty mortician mocha to give you that jolt you need to make it through the eulogy. That is the difficult choice that will face mourners at the Robinson Funeral Home in Easley, South Carolina where the fourth-generation family will be adding a Starbucks shop. It is not clear why a coffee machine with some Starbucks coffee would not suffice but mourners will soon be able to sign the deceased’s visitor book and move directly over to the baristas at the “Coffee Corner.”

The owner, Chris Robinson, says that this is no departure for the family, which has always had multitasking morticians. Robinson says that family started its business as part of a general store where people could buy coffee and various sundries. Notably the Starbucks will be open to the public which can pop by to just get a cup of Joe while Joe is laid out in the next room. It is not clear how your everyday coffee drinker will take to stopping by the local funeral home for a cup or how the traffic to the “Coffee Corner” will affect services since folks would presumably be coming by in flip flops and jeans (though this does bring a new meaning to the sign “No shirt, no shoes, no service).

Since this will be the first Starbucks in the town, they may have to get over any aversion to the locale. Just don’t ask for a stiff one.

Source: WSPA

22 thoughts on “Better Latte Than Never: Funeral Home Adds Starbucks For Mourners . . . And Walk-Ins”

  1. Starbucks? Funeral home? REALLY? Come to think of it, maybe it’s not so odd. The funeral parlor in the town in Ireland where my family is from shares a building with the local pub. Makes it easier for the wake, I suppose!

    1. AY,

      In a personal sense, when the time comes I could care less how they dispose of me. The thing about funerals though, is I think they’re about the living, not the deceased. They are the ritual that begins the human mourning process. We live in times though where every ritual is cheapened for expediency or profits’s sake.

  2. Matt J.

    Marlboro Country” is that place where the greatful dead are buried by the folks at the “We’re The Last people in The World to Let You Down” funeral home.

  3. Here comes the brag—no, the truth actually.

    The lady divorcee with three kids in 1961 líved out in the country near Ft. Huachuca, AZ. I was dating her.
    Across the road was the meadow with high grass where some of the Marlboro shots were made. It made the local newspaper and she had clippings and own photos of the shoot.

  4. bill mcwilliams 1, July 12, 2012 at 4:15 pm

    What’s next? A Starbucks at the “Marlboro Country” cemetary?
    ======
    Where is “Marlboro Country?” They might not have that kind of money.

  5. What’s next? A Starbucks at the “Marlboro Country” cemetary?

  6. Know what? The kids are in another century. They have forgotten what ours was all about. And they are much nicer (here) than before. Don’t know why.

    1. “Mike S. It’s already being done”

      Bettykath,

      Human activity continues to amaze me even at my advanced age.

  7. Blouise,

    Neither do I as long as the signage is kept to a minimum and is done in such a way as to be unobtrusive. I don’t think making the place into a “McFunerals’s” would be appropriate, but there is nothing wrong with offering the service/products.

  8. Death is so casual anymore?

    The New Orleans technique is making the rounds.

    Everybody is into this death thingy and taxes.

  9. AY,

    I know when you asked about “drive-thru” you meant for the coffee, but it seems to me in this era of multi-tasking it could have meant for the casket viewing and a brief summation of the service. In that way you could line up the cars for the funeral procession to the cemetary.

  10. Use a funeral home to get cremated and take the ashes out to the river and spread them. Have a service at a church or local bar. Service does not have to include prayers. Skip the BS and the Starbucks.

  11. The irony…… The irony…… The darker the roast….. The more burnt the bean….. South Carolina….. Lol….. Will they offer drive through……

  12. Given that Starbucks makes burnt coffee perhaps it shouldn’t be served for cremation ceremonies.

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