New Peet's Opens Monday on College and Alcatraz

The ninth Peet's Coffee in Berkeley will open on Monday, Nov. 14 at 3200 College Avenue. 

Renovations to the building are almost complete, including the sleek maroon decor traditional to the Peet's brand. The brown-leather chairs await the first customers, and an outside patio is also being set up at the front of the store on College Avenue, and at the side of the building on Alcatraz Avenue. 

The site was formerly home to , which moved further up the street into the Elmwood District in October. 

With the rapid growth of the company, the Berkeley-founded Peet's has faced criticism for losing its roots and becoming just another corporate coffee chain. An article published the East Bay Express in September (How Peet's Starbucked Itself), claimed that the company is "nearly unrecognizable" from what it was when the first store opened up in the Gourmet Ghetto in 1966.

Berkeley Patch who described many of the changes within the company in recent years as it pursues expansion and profit on a corporate scale. We also ran a poll asking,  — to which 48 percent of responders replied "yes."

Will you frequent the new Peet's on College at Alcatraz? Let us know in the comments.

Are you a Peet's customer? What do you think of the company's expansion and growth? Share your thoughts in the comments and vote in the poll: