I’m reading Leithart on P. J. O’Rourke on Taylor Clark on Starbucks. It is an eye-opening account of the good, the bad, and the evil (the fair trade tyranny).
I wish I could believe that Barnes & Noble and Border’s are doing for books what Starbuck’s is doing for coffee (allowing the opening of a lot of stores, including “mom&pops”). But the internet interferes with that possibility.
Still, with that many coffee shops opening up, it seems to me that the Starbucks phenomenon may end up being the last refuge for retail books and music.
I always go somewhere other than Starbucks if the option exists. Not for any socio-political reasons though. A mom or pop, or even a chain like Caribou, simply has better tasting coffee IMO.
The new trend around here is to put 2 Starbucks in the same strip mall. Giant Food Stores are putting Starbucks inside the stores at the front door, and then they also build a free standing Starbucks in the parking lot, usually within 100 yards of the other one.
I enjoyed the post. It’s not surprising to me, really, that they’ve made the whole coffee house culture more of a national phenomenon and made that sort of business more feasible for others.
As it so happens, Starbucks has been my only source for a decent coffee fix here (in Berlin) – up until today, when I got an early Christmas gift from my aunt in the form of two pounds of the good stuff from my favorite mom-&-pop back in Fort Worth.
I love those sorts of coincidences.
When are we going to get coffee downloads over the internet. That’s what I want to know!