SAN DIEGO -- Business is good at Lestat's Coffee House in Normal Heights. They have a regular crowd that is into the shop's unique style.

"It's more of a home atmosphere versus just going into some corporate place," said customer Nanette Konopacky.

That so-called corporate place moved right across the street from Lestat's less than a year ago, but the coffee house did not flip out.

In fact, they just laughed it off.

"We just actually got more business because people would come into the area and say, 'Oh, look, a Starbucks. Oh, look, a local coffee house. Let's go to the local coffee house instead,'" said Ryan Longworth of Lestat's.

It might have had the opposite effect down the street where Kensington Coffee closed after another Starbucks opened across the way. Kensington Coffee has since been replaced by San Diego Coffee, Tea and Spice.

Besides the competition, local and corporate coffee shops are now facing a world where people have to decide between $4 lattes and $4 gasoline.

"A lot of clientele has not been coming in and we've noticed the drop in sales, but it's not too bad," said Elizabeth Carey of San Diego Coffee, Tea and Spice.

Longworth added, "Some people that used to drive here everyday are coming here less."

But the one thing a lot of these coffee shops thrive on is the local business that might not rely on gas to get there.

Hillcrest resident Walt Meyer said, "I can walk to my gym. I can walk to my grocery store. I can walk to other places, and so the gas thing hasn't hit me that hard yet."

Nor has it hit the local coffee shops, where $4 might mean more if it's spent locally.

"They choose to come here instead of Starbucks because we are local," said Carey.

Local shops are choosing to laugh off the competition instead of flipping out.