By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CARNEGIE HILL — Starbucks, the ubiquitous coffee chain, is set to open yet another Manhattan location at the corner of East 96th Street and Lexington Avenue, just two avenues away from its Madison Avenue café.
Reactions from locals Tuesday on the planned September opening were mixed.
Amir Bahar, 40, who works in the neighborhood and was buying a cup of coffee from the Starbucks at East 92nd Street and Third Avenue, welcomed the company's expansion.
"If I'm meeting a friend it's comfortable, and the coffee is better than at other places," Bahar said of the chain.
"But I don't like the fact that it's like McDonald's and every one of them is the same," he said.
Other residents said that, if Starbucks builds it, they will come.
"Everyone is talking about it," said Taina Rivera, 24, whose daughter goes to the pre-school on the same block as the new location.
Two blocks away from the site, Luis Baez, 45, also serves coffee to customers dropping by his Bani Grocery bodega but said the two stores serve different clienteles.
"I don't think it's going to make a difference," he said of the potential for Starbucks to impact his business.
For one thing, he's got them beat on price point: A medium cup of coffee at Baez's shop costs $0.75 and a large, $0.95. At Starbucks, it's $2.29 and $2.50, respectively.
