New Starbucks in Orcutt brings up new traffic concerns

Starbucks opening has been a long time coming for coffee lovers in Orcutt.

“Oh, it’s been agony! I’ve been waiting every single day for this place to open – every day I’d drive by come on, you can do it!” said customer Jessy Rushing.

“I’ve been anticipating it every single day for months. So I’m very excited to see it’s finally here and open,” said customer Jessi Hanspire.

Many people are excited to try out the new store located off Clark and Bradley Thursday afternoon – some for more than just coffee.

“It’s a good place to do school and stuff because they have WiFi and good drinks, rather than Albertsons that didn’t have WiFi or anywhere to sit. So, this is cool,” customer Amber Hopewell said.

But all of these people heading to Starbucks brings fears for some over traffic now backing up onto these busy roadways.

“[Some may be concerned] especially in the mornings – everyone wants to get a coffee and in the mornings is when a lot of people are in a rush to get to work and get to school,” customer Brandon Mendez said.

Some people argue, however, the traffic could be good for other businesses.

“Right now especially since the businesses in this area aren’t super booming, I’m hoping it’ll bring more businesses to this area. So the traffic really isn’t bad, nothing to worry about,” Hanspire said.

Just for some perspective for how long its taken to get this store open – in the same amount of time, Santa Maria has opened Buffalo Wild Wings, Ulta, Chic-fil-a, and several other stores. We reached out to the county to find out what the hold up has been in opening the store and are still waiting to hear back.