Consumer Confidential: Instant Starbucks, trust and a day at Disney

Here's your Totally Tuesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- We're not out of the woods yet. Consumer confidence took an unexpected dive last month as Americans continued to fret about whether the job market would ever improve. Chances are, consumers will once again feel some love for the economy as employers slowly (oh so slowly) expand the workforce, but this could be a dark cloud for the holiday shopping season. Or, looked at another way, I'm thinking big sales coming down the pike to lure us into stores.

-- Starbucks has taken the lid off its new Via Ready Brew instant coffee. The company hopes this will give it a taste of the $21-billion global market for morning pick-me-ups made from freeze-dried beans. Starbucks is pumping big bucks into the North American rollout of Via. We'll just have to see whether this is a shrewd brand extension on the company's part or whether adding instant to the mix just cheapens everyone's favorite caffeine fix.

-- Do you trust the safety of the food you eat? Many of us don't, or so we're led to believe in a new survey from our friends at IBM (who I never thought of foodies, but so be it). The tech giant found that about 60% of consumers said they were concerned about the food they purchased, and only 20% trusted food companies to develop and sell safe products. The survey indicates that a steady stream of food recalls has made consumers safer, but it's also raised awareness that not everything you find in the supermarket is safe to eat.

-- Who says giving is its own reward? Disney is upping the ante by offering free admission to a Disney park for anyone who completes a day of volunteer work. The offer will be extended to 1 million do-gooders and is being made in conjunction with HandsOn Network, a clearinghouse for volunteer activities. See you on the Matterhorn.

-- David Lazarus

Tesco's meaty power program outrages vegans

Tesco, the giant British retailer that owns the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain of small grocery stores in Southern California, faces the ire of vegans for a program in Britain that turns unsold meat into electricity.

Britain's Daily Mail reports that Viva (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals) is protesting a program in which meat that isn't sold by its sell-by date goes to biomass-to-energy plants. They turn waste food into biofuel, which is used to make electricity.

The Mail says that Tesco sends about 5,000 tons of meat a year to such plants and that it's used to make enough electricity to power 600 homes. It's part of efforts by the British to reduce the waste sent to landfills and to create alternative energy sources.

But what's green to some amounts to waving a red flag in front of a bull to others.

"It's a sad indictment of modern life that not only hundreds of millions of animals are killed each year in the UK, but so much meat is left over from greed and indifference. To turn this wasted meat into power might seem like a good idea at first, but you have to ask yourself, why is so much left over and why are so many animals dying to provide this excess?" Justin Kerswell, a Viva spokesman, told the Mail.

-- Jerry Hirsch

Photo credit: Daily Mail

Echo Park books: Stories old and new

Just down the street from the papaya-walled Laundromat on Sunset Boulevard, in the heart of Echo Park, is a new bookstore-cafe named Stories.

Opened in November, it is the brainchild of Liz Garo and Claudia Colodro. Both are veteran booksellers: Colodro got her book savvy working for Dutton’s book store in North Hollywood for six years; Garo spent time in sales at Book Soup on the Sunset Strip.

Stories, a hip, loft-like store with concrete floors and high ceilings, is as peaceful as a college library during finals. Small tables are stationed at the front adjacent to the two-story shop windows facing the street. Tucked into the back corner, a small cafe dispenses coffee, killer blondie brownies and soup-and-salad fare.

In between the reading room and the cafe, shelves are stacked with a happy marriage of new and used books. Perusing the cookbook section toward the rear, I found "Tassajara" by Karla Oliveira, a gourmet vegetarian cookbook from the Buddhist monastery standing alongside "The Vogue Cookbook of Menus and Recipes" from 1964. In the children's section, there is a nice selection of new copies of award-winning "Polar Express," as well as vintage books such as "Reggie the Goat" (1967) and Little Golden Books from the 1920s.

Although the owners try to keep a 50-50 ratio between new and used books, "the vintage ones fly off the shelves so fast, it’s often more like 70% new and 30% old," Colodro said. They also take books in trade, generally offering 25% cash and/or credit toward the store’s retail price.

Pop culture, paperback fiction and regional L.A. are among the shop’s specialties, although there’s also a good number of biographies, gardening, art and design books — "a little bit of everything," Colodro said. What it doesn't carry — or want — are technical, computer and text books.

With independent bookstores practically on the endangered species list, it’s refreshing to see a small,
neighborhood bookstore flourishing. Stories is at 1716 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park; (213) 413-3733; myspace.com/storiesla. Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays.

—Barbara Thornburg 

Vegetarian & vegan: candy for the dairy-free set

If you're a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy (or gal) with a vegan on your holiday shopping list, fear not! Pangea's Vegan Store has you covered, from vegetable-based candles to cookbooks.

Our favorite item at the Vegan Store (and believe us, we've tried a lot of them) is, without a doubt, the Premium Belgian Chocolates box. This little piece of dairy-free heaven contains a pound of fondant creams, hazelnut truffles, crisped rice pralines and dark chocolate medallions — and we guarantee you, your vegan friends will thank you!

The premium box (shown here) will set you back $31.95 (although Pangea recommends shipping on ice, an added charge); smaller boxes are available starting at $13.95.  And if fancy concoctions with the word "fondant" in them don't ring your bell, the Vegan Store also offers truffles, caramels and chocolate-covered cherries.

—Lindsay Barnett

Photo: veganstore.com