Starbucks

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. It only seems like yesterday that I was at University, writing a case study about how evil the mighty corporation of Starbucks was. Saturating the market, torpedoing small retailers and aggressive expansion in expensive locations all made Starbucks – in my Marketing lecturer’s eyes at least – a bigger threat to human existence than rabid-cosmic-polar-ice-shift-storms. So I happily joined the anti-Starbucks parade, knowing no better. Nowadays, I can’t keep away from the places. They rock my world. “Better make it quick kiddo, in five minutes this place is ... more

For many years I reveled in my hatred for Starbucks and everything they stood for. I despised them for their corporate branded image. I condemned them for their over the top prices. I recoiled at their growing popularity as one by one they popped up on most city street corners. I categorically refused to be sucked into the brand and for several years avoided every setting foot inside one. Last year whilst working in Glasgow, I allowed myself to be taken in and I succumbed to the unthinkable. I remember that day well. It was quarter to eight one morning last November. It had been raining in ... more

You can't walk through Seattle on a Monday morning without noticing that something is different over there - apart from all the grunge, that is. It's that all the people, almost without exception, walk along on their way to work clutching a thermos mug of coffee as if it was the most natural and easiest thing in the world to carry. It's become part of the morning routine. The thermos cup is now also visible on morning public transport in the UK. It's spreading, just like Starbucks. There are now more than 7000 branches of Starbucks worldwide, so they must be doing something right. Is it just ... more

The Starbucks invasion has come to Northern Ireland – albeit in the shape and form of 3 stores so far, although we do have one on the way and expecting the arrival of more imminently! There are two stores in Belfast city centre itself – Castle Lane, Cornmarket (a stand alone store), and in Castlecourt Shopping Centre. The first Starbucks to open its doors in the province back in August 2004 was at Junction One shopping village, in Antrim. We will soon have one available for travellers at Belfast International Airport also. So in the space of around 6months Starbucks have spread ... more

I am writing this on my palmtop (see my convenient Psion Series 5 review) in Starbucks at 7.30 in the morning. So if I can't convey the atmosphere under these circumstances, there isn't much hope for me is there . . . Prices added 19/11/2001. Nitty Gritty ------------ Starbucks is an enormous American chain of coffee shops. As such they are the target of anti-globalisation campaigns, which may or may not be just. They aren't a restaurant chain, so this category is slightly misleading, but they do sell food. Prices are high. Quality is good, but not as it might be for the prices which are ... more