I remember there being a few Second Cups in and around Vancouver before there were ever Starbucks - I'm talking about the early 80's here. I remember there being a Second Cup in Lansdowne Mall. I also remember there being a Second Cup at UBC up until 2004 or 2005 before they turned it into a Blenz.
But for the longest time, Vancouver and the Lower Mainland lacked Tim Horton's entirely. I honestly think the closest Tim Horton's was located out in Kelowna, so it was never a part of the Vancouver coffee culture or anybody's upbringing. It never brings nostalgic feelings for those of us that grew up here.
For whatever reason, things began to change in the late 90's when they first started to build Tim Horton's in Vancouver, but even then, they'd only build them inside Esso gas stations. There seemed to be half a Tim Horton's for every 50 Starbucks.
In the year 2000 I was carpooling with a guy from London, Ontario, and he would drive out of his way to pick up his "Timmy's" before getting to work - and we'd always be late for work because "he had to have his Timmy's" - aaaarrrrgh! that was my first introduction to Tim Horton's.
But by the time Tim Horton's started opening up more shops, Starbucks already had 15 years of virtual exponential growth and had already dominated the Vancouver coffee scene.
So... that's probably why the only people I know who actually buy the "it's Canadian therefore I drink it" crap were the people who grew up drinking it out in Ontario. In fact, it's often people *not* from Vancouver who are gung ho on Tim Horton's in Vancouver.
Prev
). Anyways, moral of the story... McCafe is not very good, nor MUCH cheaper than a normal bakery that sells proper melon pan. 
It's a McCafe within an actual McDonald's. It looked like a Starbucks-influenced counter set to the side of a McDonald's. Very weird.
Linear Mode
