Chapter 432: March First, 1987

With all of that being covered and the rest of that Saturday eventually going on until it was pretty much over... the next day came.

Which obviously was a Sunday.

Specifically dated at March 1, 1987.

The very first and very start of March that would march on.

Of course, aside from that, this day would come to have other significances too.

It may just be another day for most of everybody else but it would also be quite the day for certain somebodies.

Be it a certain celebrity's wedding, or someone's literal day of birth, perhaps even the day they'll die.

It could also be quite the day for a business entity, as it makes its mark on new grounds.

Or just setting up shop in a new country. Like Canada.

Specifically in Vancouver, Canada.

More specifically at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

And to be even more specific than that, Starbucks was setting up shop at the Seabus Skytrain Station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

That reiterating specifications was admittedly brought about by a hint of nervousness on Howard Schultz's part.

This was rather ambitious of him, after all, to go for a proof of business concept, this far away from their Seattle home base. This far, far enough away that it's practically in another country actually.

Imagine that, some upstart Seattle coffee company, debuting in a small shop at the Great White North for its first foray outside the United States. Hopefully, it will be a conducive test run for what's to come.

For its success was anything but assured.

Although they were known back home as retailers of whole-bean coffee, few outside of our hometown had ever heard of this brand. Even fewer so here when it came to Canadians.

Still, Howard Schultz, the point person, was undaunted.

Week after week leading to this moment, he and his subordinates drove his pickup truck north to interview applicants and install equipment at this Vancouver location they had found.

Equipping the new partners himself, teaching them not only the craft of coffee but also the company's culture and values.

Clearly, they weren't strictly a coffee and equipment seller any longer.

They have turned into a cafe that served espressos and cappuccinos, and it wasn't as bad as the old owners made it seem.

Which really just brings him back to the spring of 1983, when the company sent him to Milan to attend an international housewares show.

While in this part of Italy, he was impressed with the country's cafés and discovered that the city of Milan alone boasted 1,500 coffeehouses.

Inspired, he thought of doing something similar in Starbucks and envisioned turning a tiny regional operation into a national coffeehouse chain via rapid store expansion.

And here he was, with this humble store.

His very first 'cafe' outside of the U.S. and set the stage for the company's international growth.

He even skipped national and went international already.

Howard can admit that he was really quite driven and energetic. And it's not only because of the caffeine in his system.

There's just something about this ugly mutated siren of a business logo that called out to him.

In spite of the fact that there's a much heftier investor involved and despite the fact that he could have done this on his own with 'Il Giornale'... Starbucks and its shaky future just has that much appeal to him.

So much so that this international foray was secretly a ploy to dilute the hold that that certain investor had.

What kind of "investor" goes for the full 100 percent anyway? Then be the irresponsible "owner" to not show up and leave all the work to him?

Granted, his whole dilution ploy was just for proper recourse for him and his efforts. Not that it had any effect just yet.

Maybe when he'll expand to tens and thousands more of these cafes, more across the States and outside of it.

Surely, he'll make a dent in that percentage by then, right?

Maybe he could even impress that beautiful Italian legal intern lady who seemed to have moved up as the representing secretary.

Which reminds him that that lady did call to remind him of a rare directive from that "investor" to look out for Tim Hortons of the locals.

So yeah... he should probably do that.

After all, aside from stabilizing and setting up shop here, his first march into this new culture has got to count for knowing a coffee culture other than Milan.

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Unbeknownst to him, that little tip tipped the fate of Starbucks here in this cold country ever so slightly.

As he and his trusty cafe company were about to battle against the slumbering coffee powerhouse of the Canadians.

For coffee-providing dominance.

But these turn of events are really quite far away in distance and farther in the future to truly be of significance as of current.

As for other happenstance on March 1, 1987...

There is the birth of some little girl named Kesha Rose Sebert, somewhere in Los Angeles, California.

Not really that significant but this day is still quite the day for her and her parents. And to TikTok fans, of the app and song alike.

Also elsewhere in Los Angeles, California... around San Fernando Valley, there's also the marriage of Moonlighting actress Cybill Sheperd to a Dr. Bruce Oppenheim.

An affair that probably disappointed her flock of sheep fans as she didn't shack up with co-star Bruce Willis and instead settled on some other Bruce.

And in no offense to Dr. Oppenheim, but the bone-cracking sounds that he makes as a chiropractor was really no comparison to Dr. Oppenheimer's atomic bomb!

Something significant to those that may find it as so.

Of course, most assuredly, a bunch of other stuff happened for a bunch of other people on this day as well.

One way or another, the 1st of March is more or less the first march of everybody into the month of March.

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But on a more and somewhat Creed-related note, there's actually a couple of things to look out for.

As a given, there's a Calvin and Hobbes for the day.

March 01, 1987. Sunday. Calvin and Hobbes' Day Nth.

Bringing about another of its witty humor on the daily.

That humor was glossed over by a video store employee named Quentin Tarantino, however.

He could only catch a glimpse of it from another man's newspapers. Though he did keep in mind how castle-specific that comic strip was.

But that was pretty much it as he had to rush early and had work to get to... on a Sunday.

Video Archives really had to stock up on some new home video-d films that they'll be selling or renting.

Hence, the overtime. For him and his clerk pals.

Much more understandably so as he found a lot of the rebranded Creed Home Video on this batch.

And their very film that made this a shelf-stocking of utmost importance.

This was another box office champion like the Back to the Future of last year, after all.

The jet-blazing Top Gun!

Which was homo-erotic in its essence in Quentin's opinion.

Sure, Top Gun is great. One of the greatest fuckin' scripts ever written in the history of Hollywood even.

But it's really not just a story of a bunch of fighter pilots.

It's a story of a man's struggle with his homosexuality.

Yep. Top Gun is gay as hell!

But that's just him being a cinephile as he clerk-ingly stacked them to where they should.

It so happens that in this batch, he found 'Castle in the Sky' VHSs and whatnots as well. Another one that Creed Home Video is serving up.

And although he wasn't so inclined to it, it's actually one of those foreign or animated films that he could recommend.

A veritable staff pick for their customers to peruse through.

It's just that Quentin was getting a bit fed up with this status quo.

He really wanted to step "foot" into the industry, now more than ever.

And with him marching first, Roger and maybe even that Daniel, who are fellow clerks and film-making enthusiasts, will follow suit.

Probably...

Also, maybe later... when they've finally rolled out all these discordant home video formats that they're meant to bring order to.

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But, of course, that's not all that this March 1st of 1987 was serving up.

As sneakily in every Creed unit out there, an update in the menu popped up.

With it comes a new video game...

Where a man with a whip would come to march first into an eerie castle...

And unlike Howard with Starbucks going against Tim Hortons... or Quentin with his clerk pals against the tribulations of Hollywood...

A Simon with his Vampire Killer was about to whip it out against the awakening Dracula!

Not in some castle in the sky, but in Castlevania!