SELINSGROVE -- Two new Starbucks on the Golden Strip in eastern Snyder County may be grounds for excitement among some coffee drinkers, but nearby competitors greet the Valley debuts of the ubiquitous chain shop with a yawn.

Along with Dunkin Donuts, Brewers Caffe and Kind Cafe, Starbucks is a player in a coffee war that is percolating on the Strip, one that may boil over once McDonald's introduces its expected McCafe with the opening of its rebuilt restaurant in December.

The multi-billion-dollar take-out, drive-thru, sit-down-and-sip coffee industry war will see a new front with the arrival of Starbucks in Monroe Marketplace, a shopping center that opened along Routes 11-15 earlier this month.

But Julie Korbar, who sells coffee, isn't buying it.

"Our regulars in the morning will stay," said Korbar, a co-owner of Brewers Caffe in Hummels Wharf. "Five years ago, there wasn't a coffee shop in the area, and now there are five places selling coffee within just a few miles of each other. It should be interesting."

Joshua Grubb, who manages the Kind Cafe on Market Street in downtown Selinsgrove, says the local culture may not bode well for Starbucks.

"This," he said of the shop owned by his father, Richard, "is a local gathering place. People walk here. They come in to chat, to talk politics."

He just doesn't see how Starbucks will be able to develop that kind of following, and he's not even sure how well Starbucks will go over among travelers on the Strip.

Locals, he said, may think Starbucks' coffee is too fancy or too expensive.

Throwing down the gauntlet

Danielle Aeillo welcomes the competition.

She is the general manager of several Dunkin Donuts stores in the Valley, including a location less than a mile from the new Starbucks.

Though the battle between Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks can be viewed as a coffee war, Aiello doesn't see it that way.

"We all have the same product line," she said.

Although she estimated that coffee and other drinks account for at least half the business at the stores she oversees, she believes the recently expanded food items and other products give Dunkin Donuts the advantage.