It's Magic: Inner-City Theaters, Starbucks -- Basketball Star Behind Columbia City Store

Former pro basketball star Magic Johnson is targeting Seattle in his plans to bring Starbucks coffee shops and multiplex movie theaters to urban minority communities.

Johnson, in a joint effort with Starbucks Coffee, plans to open a Starbucks in Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood in July.

Columbia City will be the third Starbucks location opened in partnership with the Johnson Development, an organization the ex-Los Angeles Laker great established in 1994 to help revitalize neighborhoods and develop businesses in inner-city, minority communities. Johnson is chairman and CEO.

"(Inner-city areas) want the same things that the suburbs have," Johnson said in a telephone interview. "That's what we're bringing them."

The location, currently an empty storefront at 4824 Rainier Ave. S., is under construction. Columbia City, an area that stretches along Rainier Avenue South in the valley between the Mount Baker and Beacon Hill neighborhoods, is an older community on the rebound with a growing assortment of new shops, restaurants and cafes.

Johnson, who also has an agreement with Sony Theatres to develop multiplex movie theaters in urban areas around the country, said his firm has begun talking with property owners in Seattle about a Magic Johnson Multiplex theater complex. Johnson would not discuss specifics about the deal or possible locations.

"We're negotiating back and forth," he said.

The Starbucks-Johnson partnership dates back to a little over two years ago, when Johnson first approached Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz with his idea of bringing high-quality products, services and entertainment to minority communities.

Johnson said people who live in those neighborhoods should not have to leave the neighborhoods to find good restaurants, entertainment or specialty coffee.

Schultz concedes that prior to 1997, Starbucks often viewed minority neighborhoods as risky business propositions. But after opening a store near the intersection of 23rd Avenue South and South Jackson Street in Seattle's Central District that year, Starbucks has begun actively searching for other locations.

The Starbucks-Johnson partnership, the only such partnership Starbucks has in the United States, is a 50-50 proposition, with each company covering half the costs and splitting profits. The first store opened last year in Culver City, just outside Los Angeles. A second one opens today in New York City's Harlem neighborhood.

Schultz said he hopes the venture will prompt other national retailers to invest in minority neighborhoods.

"There's opportunity in underserved communities," Schultz said. "They deserve to have the best products in their communities."

Earlier this year, at the Starbucks' annual shareholders' meeting in Seattle, Johnson outlined plans for opening at least 12 Starbucks-Johnson stores over the next 24 months.

Additional stores are slated to open in Los Angeles and Atlanta by the end of 1999. Other locations may be added in Seattle and elsewhere if the initial locations perform well, Johnson said.

"We're not in it just to do goodwill," Johnson said. "It's bringing business into the community, and it's bringing jobs and high-quality products into the community. That's what African Americans want."