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An elaborate display, complete with a "Save Our Starbucks" logo and basket full of fliers, has been erected outside an empty storefront next to the Starbucks at Marks and Herndon avenues. More than 180 people have filled out comment cards taped to the store window that implore the coffeehouse chain to think twice.
Someone even dropped fliers and cards in neighborhood mailboxes.
"Somebody is starting a movement," said Christa Hancer, a teacher and Starbucks devotee who lives nearby and received a flier. "I think that's great. I'll totally help, [but] I don't know who it is."
The Starbucks is one of four stores in the central San Joaquin Valley -- all considered unprofitable -- scheduled to close in the next year.
Others that soon will serve their last latte include the store at First Street and Shields Avenue in Fresno, another at Mooney Boulevard and Caldwell Avenue in Visalia and the only Starbucks in Exeter.
While, those stores don't appear to have inspired similar customer movements, they do have supporters.
Henry Gutierrez, who frequents the First and Shields shop daily, said he is e-mailing and calling the company to keep the store open and encouraging others to do the same. He said another customer is considering organizing a rally.
Similar ad hoc campaigns have sprung up across the country. A "Save Our Starbucks" Web site has comments from coffee lovers from Emeryville to small towns in upstate New York campaigning for their own stores and posting petitions.
The Web site uses the same green-and-white logo, similar to that of the company, found on the comment cards and posters outside the Fresno store.
Generally speaking, such grass-roots efforts may have a shot at getting corporations to change their minds if the proponents are organized enough and make their voices loud enough, said Cynthia Fidel, vice president of Fresno-based ad agency Thielen Ideacorp.
"They can gain the attention of the corporation," she said. "There's no reason why that can't be successful."
However, she added, it may not be possible for the corporation to justify keeping a particular store open.
The irony is that Starbucks itself is responsible for the conflict. The company has worked hard to develop its friendly image -- built around the friendly barista who remembers a regular's special caffeine concoction. Now it's difficult for some customers to turn off that loyalty and switch stores.
At Marks and Herndon, the comment cards hanging on the inside of the window are filled with passionate messages. Some scrawled, "Don't close" in large letters. Others praised the staff by name. There's even a drawing by a 4-year-old walking to the local Starbucks.
Katy Engstrom, a regular Starbucks customer who works at the Togo's in the same development of offices and restaurants, dropped off her comment card recently.
"They're trying to take away a gathering place on this side of town," she said.
The Starbucks sits in a quiet mix of offices and small restaurants, including a Round Table Pizza and Baskin Robbins ice cream shop.
A leasing agent handling the empty storefront where the cards and poster hang said he did not know who was responsible.
A Starbucks employee said workers weren't behind it.
A Starbucks spokeswoman e-mailed a statement saying the company was "humbled by the support" it has received following the closures, but gave no further information as to the future of the store.
"We recognize the impact this announcement has had on the communities where we operate and value the feedback. Currently, we are working to address the questions we've received," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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