Concerns rise over construction of drive-thru-only Starbucks on busy Fort Myers road

Reporter: Taylor Wirtz Writer: Matias Abril
Published: Updated:
Starbucks
Road on Colonial where a Starbucks will be built. CREDIT: WINK News

Starbucks seems to pop up on every corner, but there’s one corner where people don’t want to see the popular drink spot.

On Monday, Fort Myers City Council members voted to approve a new drive-thru-only Starbucks on the corner of Six Mile Cypress and Colonial Boulevard, the first drive-thru-only Starbucks in the world.

This is in the parking lot of the Walmart near an already busy Chick-fil-A, a gas station and several other businesses.

“I’ve almost hit somebody right here just driving between the liquor store and Chick-fil-A,” said Taylor, a Walmart customer.

When customers were told that a new kind of drive-thru Starbucks was on its way near this busy street, like the coffee, people were hot and pressed about the issue.

“With the traffic that will create, including the traffic here with the Chick-fil-A, I don’t know what they’re doing,” said Daniel Pinckney, a Walmart customer.

Fort Myers City Council member Johnny Streets expressed some of the same concerns at Monday night’s meeting.

“I would be proud to say this is the first one in the country, but I wouldn’t be proud to say this is the first one in the country that got hit; somebody got hit by a car,” Streets said.

With a vote of four to two, the council voted to approve the development, but drivers in the area remain skeptical.

“They just need to put, you know, 16 more lanes on Colonial, and everything would be dandy,” Pinckney said.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.