We are all familiar with the rise and ubiquity of the Starbucks coffee chain. They started up in the early 70s in Seattle, and by mid 1990s they were nationwide. A few years after that it seemed as if they were on every streetcorner of every major and minor city, inside of Targets, and at airports. The place certainly is polarizing - either you’re a yuppie who doesn’t give an “EFF” about local businesses and loves ordering their needlessly pretentious drinks, or you’re a hippie who hates establishment and capitalism and hate starbucks.
They’ve recently bombed, expanded and changed the product line numerous time (see: starbucks instant coffee), and essentially represent the ultimate small-to-big time story that every American loves in theory but hates in practice. They’ve become a symbol of imperialism, setting up shop around the world and raking in $4 for a large Venti cappuccino drink.
Regardless of the current public opinion, it’s about to get uglier. See, Starbucks has been shutting down stores because they over-extended itself (Astor Place, NYC: get off the southbound 6 train and you can see like 3 starbucks within eyesight). They closed some here in Chicago. This article, however, shows that Starbucks may be making a slow comeback - with a twist. they’re opening new stores under different monikers - trying to appeal to a local market that has forsaken and resented Starbucks for being a chain and supposedly shutting down local spots (however, it’s a fact that coffee shops located near where starbucks open up seem to fair better, perhaps due to society’s guilt of going to “the man” instead of the local guys). They’re taking notes at other shops, so they can emulate their non-Starbucksness. It’s really a pretty dirty strategy, and I don’t see how they intend on making it work and come out morally on top.
PS. I fucking love starbucks.
