The biggest political conversations in Howard County often happen at the Wilde Lake Village Starbucks.

When elected leaders and community insiders swap invites to “City Hall,” they are referring not to a government building but the coffee chain’s standalone cafe off Twin Rivers Road in Columbia.

It’s a surprisingly ordinary destination for power brokers to see and be seen in one of Maryland’s most affluent counties. A locally owned business might seem a more fitting setting for such activity, but this Starbucks cemented its reputation as a sort of grassroots agora during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Yes, it’s a chain,” said Mary Kay Sigaty, a former Howard County Council member, “but the managers know the community. They made a commitment to us at a time when we needed a place.”

Starbucks representatives did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday, but the Seattle-based chain’s announced goal is to create welcoming and inclusive places where people can connect.

During the pandemic, the cafe’s staff outfitted the spacious patio with ample seating, umbrellas and heaters, making social distancing both possible and comfortable. Regulars mused that the Wilde Lake location felt bigger than the chain’s other three shops in Columbia. Some also pointed to its convenient location in a village center, just steps from public bus stops and a busy traffic artery.

Five years later, Starbucks is where people might go if they’re meeting with community leaders and activists or aiming to enter public office, said Janssen Evelyn, who ran unsuccessfully for Howard County Council‘s District 4 seat in 2022.

“This is King‘s Landing,” said Evelyn, referencing the fictional capital city in the “Game of Thrones” book and television series with a plot that centers on characters’ bloody struggle to gain or retain power.

On second thought, Evelyn said, maybe a better description is a “third place for politicos in Howard County.”

Customers who come for a grande light roast might stay for the piping hot tea on wide-ranging topics like Howard‘s budget priorities, the federal workforce, Maryland politics, the Columbia Association’s board elections and local real estate developments.

Sigaty is one of several civically engaged retirees who like to hold court at the Starbucks twice a week. The group briefly considered calling themselves “The Pushy Broads” but decided that didn’t strike a serious enough tone.

On a sunny Thursday morning in late April, the retirees rearranged the Starbucks’ patio chairs into a circle and ticked off names or titles of people — lawmakers, a state agency director, Columbia village managers, developer “muckety mucks” and an advocacy organization president — they’d spotted recently at the Starbucks.

One retiree, Joan Lancos, a former Hickory Ridge community staffer, said she likes to position her seat to face the parking lot so she can spot the new faces walking up to the main entrance. And people come from all over the county, not just Columbia, she said.

When several suited men resembling Secret Service agents pulled up in a black car with Virginia license plates, Lancos didn’t hesitate to introduce herself.

“You’re not locals,” she recalled saying to the men. “Who are you?”

The suits revealed themselves to be MedStar executives, not elite federal law enforcement looking for a caffeine fix.

Sigaty chalks up some encounters at the Starbucks to serendipity. Other individuals, she said, “want to be seen here.”

Community-facing officials and agencies sometimes stage meet-and-greets at the Starbucks. Columbia Association board chair Bill Santos regularly advertises offices hours there on Sundays. Howard County police held a “coffee with a cop” event in March.

Sigaty recalled how U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth once dropped by the Starbucks for a chat during her congressional campaign. (A spokesperson for the Maryland congresswoman confirmed the meeting and said Elfreth is grateful for Sigaty’s endorsement later in the campaign.)

Before it was a Starbucks, the 2,800-square-foot brick building was a vacant eyesore in the shadow of a massive effort to redevelop Columbia’s oldest village center.

The building‘s prior occupant, Kentucky Fried Chicken, packed up its 11 herbs and spices around 2012, boarded up the windows and fenced off the property. Nearby, Kimco Realty was forging ahead with plans to build two five-story apartment complexes and other retail sites to anchor the village center.

The old KFC was “an afterthought,” said Kevin McAliley, a Wilde Lake Village board member.

“We needed that corner piece,” he said.

Local leaders pushed hard to get the property included in revitalization plans, and, in 2016 Kimco announced that Starbucks would take it over.

As a planned community, Columbia’s village centers are supposed to be gathering places for people of all backgrounds, Sigaty said.

She closely studied the site’s redevelopment plans during her time on County Council and now enjoys striking up conversations with other customers who enjoy the Starbucks too.

“It makes me smile because it’s what I imagined and worked really hard on,” Sigaty said.

As the morning grew late, Sigaty watched as McAliley ambled up to the Starbucks and waved him over to pull up a chair.

Lately, McAliley said, people already seem to know where to find him if they’ve got something important to discuss.

“People say it before I can say it.” he said.

“‘Let’s meet at Starbucks.’”