You mean I won't be able to go into a Starbucks that's in a Starbucks that's next door to a Starbucks that's across the street from a Starbucks that's down the block from a Starbucks???

What the hell??

We had this Chicago Hot Dog place near my house and I'd go there once in a while. Lots of people did. Then Starbucks bought them out or something and the next thing you know there is a Starbucks there. OK, we didn't care too much but I never saw anyone in that Starbucks. The hot dog place had way more customers. I kinda figured Starbucks had some idiotic management. Too bad for all the employees, it sucks to lose your job.

Its about time. They suck.

Gray St. in Houston - I always get a kick out of it. The Starbucks are literally right across the street from each other.

Check out the streetview: 29.75303,-95.409826
face west and blamo!

weird. i just got hired a while back, and i had heard they were going to build a few more in the area. oh well, they don't have to keep building their shit everywhere. every corp is turning this area into a clusterfuck.

i guess it's time to job hunt!

Oh, but I do love the people that go to Seattle's Best in protest of Starbucks - It's like a choice between over-roasted beans and the thrown out old over-roasted beans. I can't even get down the Seattles best crap. Peet's rules. Sorry, I just finished a cup...

I never did like Starbucks coffee. I can't understand how the company thrived for so long.

They supposedly did treat their employees well, but now that they're going through a rough patch, one action may be reduction of compensation, benefits and pay.

When there was money everybody prospered. Now that things are tight, everybody suffers. They are crossing the Rubicon. More is yet to come.

Part of the downturn is attributable tof less disposable income. Maybe the discharged employees should demonstrate in front of the Saudi embassy.

With the hundreds of coffee shops in Seattle I'm surprised it doesn't hold the sole claim to the moniker "The City That Never Sleeps".

I never understood the Starbucks business model of selling a 50 cent cup of coffee with whipped milk and sugar calling it a foreign name meaning "coffee milk" and charging $5.00. Who could be stupid enough to fall for that?

Still a 60 mile drive to my nearest, and that's a counter in a Target store.

I'm fine if they want to keep it that way, too.

to be honest, i think it's the customer service that really keeps the people back. the more the company let's random people get away with treating the employees as if they are muck under their shoes, and they still serve them with a fake believable smile, the more the people come back. at least, that's what i've observed in this sort of industry. i'm still not sure about how the treat their employees on every step of the ladder....

8 simple words could keep a few of these Starbucks from folding - "Would you like a lapdance with that frappachino?"

lol with the lapdances, that could be the ticket. OTOH, only coffee I get is the regular drip, which requires a heck of a lot of half and half just to make it palatable. Of course, I'm not there for the coffee, just there to ogle the babes. And you will find one at every Starbucks. Eventually.

sadly our starbucks that are across the street from each other are still doing very well. However at least one of the ones in a couple mile radius are probably in trouble.

Where will Krugman and the latte liberals hang out?

Six hundred down, only a couple thousand more to go.

I was wondering when America would figure out that their product was overpriced and bitter-tasting.

I love good coffee, but I'd sooner drink instant than Starbucks' stuff.

Before we cheer the closing of Starbucks loctions, it is trend in which jobs are being lost by many different kinds of busineses. It is sign that the economy is free-falling and I'm not sure it has a parachute.

These are some jobs that need to be outsourced so we can bring in some really strong Brazialian and Columbian coffee.

Starbucks and the other chains do a decent job of serving tastier coffee than most other places. They time their brewed pots and throw out anything older than 20 minutes.
For me, if the spoon doesn't stand straight up in the cup when I take my hand off of it, it's not coffee. That's just designer coffee-flavored water.

Three shots of espresso in a cup of French roast will take you from 0 to 60 real quick.

the problem with this is:

who is to say that once they get a good amount of customers, that they won't start implementing cheaper coffee with their own?

but i'd definitely love to have some african coffees as well...mm...

That's 600 prime spots of real estate opening up.

Is that a Tall layoff, a Grande layoff, or a Venti layoff? I can never tell.

their coffee blows chunks

i've been wondering for ten years why people didn't get smart and purchase their own espresso machines - i'm on my third machine and they've paid themselves off time and again - and have led a whole new generation into the snob coffee scene. fortunately, they'll be able to make it themselves - AND, if you go to a sam's club or other type store, you may also purchase the little snob coffee cups and lids...

all that and you don't have to look at a bunch of tatted up and pierced nitwits in sloppy clothing spewing their nonsense on a regular basis - next, barnes and noble...

Nanc...you've never actually been in a Starbucks, have you? Snob coffee scene? Barnes & Noble is next? After reading that, I distinctly got the impression that the only snob around here is you. I can see why poetry and literacy is not on your list of approved pastimes. The '50s ain't coming back, darlin.' Right about now you should be doing a little personal inventory to try and figure out why people light you up every time you post, if they respond at all.

You don't do yourself any favors posting stuff like this. Those tattooed pierced nitwits in sloppy clothing are my audience and my friends, and by taking an uninformed cheap shot at a subculture you will never belong to just informs everyone know how truly out of touch and frightened you are with the world around you.

People go to Starbucks because it's about the only way non-smokers can get a break during the work day.

I used to think Starbucks was the new McDonalds but I was wrong.

I suspect that a disproportionately large chunk of Starbucks customer base is currently upside-down on their mortgages and having to choose between $4 gas and $4 lattes. Hmmm, that free Wilkins coffee at the office doesn't look so bad any more.

Glad I sold SBUX when I did. Wish I had sold earlier.

They did a survey and a blind taste test in Toronto by coffee afficinados,of 10 franchise coffee retailers and the winner for the best coffee overall was....McDonalds!

Axiom's Favorite Coffee

I have had some good coffee and the best I ever had was Jailhouse coffee. That stuff just stands up to anything and You are wired for days. Here is how it's made. Take You a sock and take and cut the toe portion of it as far up as if it were on Your foot to between the middle of food to where the ankle meet. Next load that Sock up with ground coffee and stick it in a 2 gallon ziplock baggie. Fill with water and seal. Stick said baggie of water and coffee in a far back corner under Your bunk and let "Ferment" for 2 days. Then open said baggie and drink. Talk about an eye opener.

Larry Mohr

OK - Now I'm angry!

I'm trying to think if this is a shame or not...

Yeah, I'm going to have to go with not. I can make my own chai at home easily enough, get it from the grocery store no less, and it'll cost me, I'm going to go with a tenth of what I'm charged at the Bucks.

Shame about the lost service sector jobs, true. I wish those losing their jobs luck in finding the next one.

It's like no one saw this coming. $3.50 for a cup of coffee? That's almost one gallon of gas. Blow off the Starbucks cup of coffee in order to get to work.

Starbucks cashed in on the gullibility of Americans, and even though they paid their help well, now the party is over. Too bad. So sad.

Nanc, you're spot on. I can't afford Starbucks. I cannot afford to buy new books. I drink shitloads of caffeinated beverages at home, and use the Public Library a lot. Times are tough. You ain't seen nothin' yet!

I can't imagine how they lasted this long selling their overpriced coffee. I guess some Americans are either too hurried, or too lazy, to make it themselves. My bean-grinder and coffee-maker gets used frequently.

I can't imagine how they lasted this long selling their overpriced coffee. I guess some Americans are either too hurried, or too lazy, to make it themselves. My bean-grinder and coffee-maker gets used frequently.

Posted by Republican4ever at 2008-07-02 07:46 AM | Reply

Think about it. Imagine some world class wannabe trying to feel impressive goes and buys this expensive coffee. Now they can "Claim" to be somebody because they bought this high priced coffee. Status symbol baby status symbol.

Larry

Gray St. in Houston - I always get a kick out of it. The Starbucks are literally right across the street from each other.

Check out the streetview: 29.75303,-95.409826
face west and blamo!

maps.google.com

Posted by 2fast4u at 2008

yes and for those of you who are lewis black fans....he isnt making that up in his comedy routine...its not too far from the comedy club.....

AND

Nanc...you've never actually been in a Starbucks, have you? Snob coffee scene? Barnes & Noble is next? After reading that, I distinctly got the impression that the only snob around here is you. I can see why poetry and literacy is not on your list of approved pastimes.

Posted by dutch46 at 2008-07-02 02:02

ah dutch......barnes and nobles is not only a great place to have a cup and read but many times, it is hotter than any of the clubs on sat night.....most of the time there are twice as many women there as men and they are classy ones to boot......

"all that and you don't have to look at a bunch of tatted up and pierced nitwits in sloppy clothing spewing their nonsense on a regular basis"

nanc, what starbucks has people showing off tats and piercings? i wish the one i worked at was more like that. i got scolded for wearing *gasp* light green socks! and i was sitting down in the back and the pant leg was lifted! oh no, end of the world!

You don't do yourself any favors posting stuff like this. Those tattooed pierced nitwits in sloppy clothing are my audience and my friends, and by taking an uninformed cheap shot at a subculture you will never belong to just informs everyone know how truly out of touch and frightened you are with the world around you.

Posted by dutch46

GET OFF my LAWN YOU HOOLIGANS!
-NANC

"I never did like Starbucks coffee. I can't understand how the company thrived for so long."

Posted by Johnson

Because you personally didn't care for Starbucks coffee implies that the rest of the planet doesn't/shouldn't care for Starbucks coffee and thus can't understand how a company can thrive when nobody really likes their product.

Were you born an arrogant johnson or have you been taking classes?

"Its about time. They suck."

Posted by Sniper

Of course they do. Starbucks has grown to become the Number 1 coffee house across the planet with more stores/outlets than {name any other store/outlet/food chain} based entirely on the fact that they suck.

The first time I saw a Starbucks within sight of another Starbucks I knew it was a business plan doomed to failure.

Interesting that Johnson and Sniper do not like Starbucks coffee.

They more likely don't like the kind of mostly charming tolerant nice people who go there and work there and hang there.

By the time they have passed judgment on them, their hair or clothes or, god forbid, that some of them are multi-racial, or somesuch, they have decided the coffee is bad. And of course they haven't a clue what to order. That, I agree, can be a conundrum.

They are wrong.

*Surprise*

"With the hundreds of coffee shops in Seattle I'm surprised it doesn't hold the sole claim to the moniker "The City That Never Sleeps".

What in the world are our little friends in Seattle and Portland gonna do if they can't get their latte to go with their tofu and bean sprouts?

"And of course they haven't a clue what to order."

Coffee...black? How hard can that be? If you're talking about all that fancy stuff with French names or something, I wouldn't know either. I understand you have to go through several surgeries and lose your manhood to qualify for expertise in ordering those. How long have YOU been sitting down to pee?

hmmmmmm...

coffee?

gas?

coffee?

gas?

of course i've been in a starbucks - we spent a few years in the state of washington for crying out loud! they're everywhere. that's when i started buying my own machines.

What WILL we latte-lappin' libruls do now? The strip mall three blocks away has TWO Starbucks, about five doors apart. There's a gag that even the men's room at Starbucks has a Starbucks. They give to good causes and we can usually find a New York Times. herm

Why do I get the feeling that most of the Starbucks haters here are "conservatives?" Must be that whole "lifestyle" thing again - like only liberals in Volvos would pay 4 bucks for a coffee, or whatever.

Personally, I like Starbucks coffee. Not as much as the little Heine Brothers coffee chain here in my town, but I like it. That's right - Heine, pronounced hiney, which causes the 10-year-old boy inside me to say, "Mmm, I sure do love the smell of Heine in the morning." Yeah, my wife LOVES when I tell that joke repeatedly...

But back to Starbucks: I don't want to pay Starbucks prices every day. My drip coffee maker makes a pretty good brew, and Folgers gourmet ain't bad. I don't need all that foofoo stuff like lattes and cafe au lait, so I'd prefer to save about $20 a week and make my own. When I travel, that's another matter. McDonald's coffee is decent, but I like my coffee strong.

I'll agree that Starbucks are everywhere. I was in Vegas recently, and there were two of the damn things in THE SAME HOTEL! They can't ALL be prospering.

I used to travel to Oregon on business a lot in the early 1990's, before Starbucks went big-time. people there raved about this local Northwest coffe place, and how the coffee was the best they've evr tasted. I tried it and thought it tasted bitter and burnt. Maybe it's my Dunkin' Donuts upbringing, but I have always thought Starbucks is overrated and overpriced. Not even sure why this story is news.

SE4NY -
It's news because they're closing 600 stores and laying off 12,000 people. It really shouldn't be that hard to understand.

They should close all of them. Their coffee sucks.

I won't take a cheap shot at Starbucks' folding. Personally, I just don't understand why so many people are drawn to the coffee. I've had it several times in different states across the country. It's so damned thick and strong. I thought that maybe it was one franchise, but it's like that everywhere. I usually throw half of it away.

It's news because they're closing 600 stores and laying off 12,000 people. It really shouldn't be that hard to understand.

Yeah, agreed CBOB. I guess what I meant to say is why does the story have "legs", as they say. The layoffs and closings are news.. the brouhaha 9or is it "brew"-haha) is what I don't understand. Maybe it serves as a warning to all other businesses that try to expand outside of their core competency -- like selling mp3's when people really just want a good cup of coffee. Whatever. I have already spent more time on this story than it warrants so I am contirbuting to thephenomenon. Off to the other threads..

There's an intersection near my work where you can see three Starbucks' within a block of each other. I suppose there'll only be two now.

More Caribou! Piss on Starbucks...

It was either close stores or go bankrupt...and they will probably do that anyway. Retail food chains are infamous for not knowing when to stop, and they die from over expansion ie boston chicken, einstein bagel etc...

I once asked my mother why she drank coffee? Her reply was if you work it right you can get 200 cups from a pound of beans. Mom and dad live through the depression.

Buy a Lattee in Starbucks everyday or have a car instead.

I do buy their 2.5 pound bags of coffee from BJ's for $21.95 and make my own. If you don't heat the coffee, it won't go bad in the pot, and you can warm it in the microwave and strech one pot for 3 days or so.

I will miss their coffee when their gone....but not their stores!

Fuck StarBucks

So the service jobs that would replace the manufacturing jobs wiped out under NAFTA are disappearing too? Viva Colombia and viva Free Trade McSame!