Starbucks, on the other hand, is often more expensive than the local coffeehouse, and it offers a very limited menu; you'll never see discounts or punch cards at Starbucks, nor will you see unique, localized fare (or—let's be honest—fare that doesn't make your tongue feel like it's dying). In other words, a new Starbucks doesn't prevent customers from visiting independents in the same way Wal-Mart does—especially since coffee addicts need a fix every day, yet they don't always need to hit the same place for it. When Starbucks opens a store next to a mom and pop, it creates a sort of coffee nexus where people can go whenever they think "coffee."
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I'm Andy Wibbels. I am working on a blog redesign so things might be a little clunky for a few days. You can learn more about my book, Blogwild, at http://GOblogwild.com/. Right now I'm working in San Francisco at Six Apart where I'm the product manager for Blogs.com. You can add my blog to your Google, Yahoo, Bloglines or other homepage. You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed.
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Comments
2 Comments
In protest, I finally had cancelled, a good six months after my FIRST request, and well into my FOURTH request, my Starbucks T-Mobile wireless account. I realized I could get:
a) Better coffee
b) Friendlier attitudes and the same servers (not baristas, please) time after time who know me, and know how I prefer my drinks.
c) And most importantly, free wireless
at every mom & pop cafe in a fifty mile radius. Starbucks product is predictable, but "only okay" in the parlance of my generation. It's the McDonalds and WalMart of coffee. Just say no. According to one world class coffee taster, "Starbucks is in the business of selling milk."
'nuff said.
Starbucks is an interesting phenomenon. I guess if you can't afford a home, designer clothes or private school for your kids, you can at least have a Starbucks. That's my observation from the Los Angeles point of view.