When Starbucks announced they were closing 600 stores, I gave out a few high-fives. Yes, this is mostly because of oily Howard Schultz who sold out my Seattle Sonics. But; I just don't like the place.
So when I saw the Save Our Starbucks website, I rolled my baby-blue eyes. Are there really some that feel bad for a corporate giant that expanded too fast due to arrogance? Really?
This is not a worthy cause. Not by any stretch. This is not freeing Tibet or feeding Darfur. We're not marching on Washington to bring attention that some of you will have to drive an extra mile and half to get a $7 cup of joe. In Manhattan, you may have to walk two blocks! That's madness.
There is even petitions on the dopey site. The petition for the closing Redding California store now has FIVE signatures! Come on Redding! You're making it happen!
Give me a break...
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Johnny, I'm with you. This isn't a worthy cause, although I do feel sorry for the people behind the counter that are just trying to make a buck.
Any way, the coffee sucks.
Thank you Shadow, I've always liked you.
Would you do the same for Wal-Mart? This has got to be the sickest joke ever...
A solid point, Juls. A solid point.
Maybe I'm Useless, but we just got a new Starbucks. And it's already killing all the little local coffee shops on the trendy little neighbourhood street it opened. Let 'em close!
Now, if it were a Tim Horton's, that's another story. That involves HOCKEY, (and coffee, and doughnuts... )
If I'm going to pay $7 at a coffee house, I prefer to get a coffee and food for that $7. That's why I'll always stick to local coffee houses. Cheaper, better atmosphere (you don't have Paul McCartney CDs being pimped to you from the coffee house's private record label) and the workers are friendlier. Granted when my wife and I travel and we want some coffee, we usually end up looking for a Seattle's Best or similar and avoid Starbucks like SARS but still it's not the Evil Empire (Wal-Mart is included in this). Hearing 600 shops are closing makes me more proud of my bumper sticker: Friends don't let friends drink Starbucks. Maybe there is a god after all and we are finding out he doesn't like corporate greed.
Maybe it's just me, but I've always thought that Starbucks coffee smelt and tasted like ammonia. *shrug* The new Pike Place Roast is better but I'd still choose a local coffee shop or a Dunkin Donuts over SB unless forced. Even 7-11 coffee is preferred. But maybe that's because I prefer "regular coffee, skim milk, no sugar" to a double half caramel mocha latteccino.
I don't really follow Starbucks-in-the-news but have they recently put on a new advertising agency? Maybe they're closing some stores but due to "public demand" may change their minds on others. How much free time has the SB name gotten on television and websites regarding the closing of 600 stores? If its marketing - genius. Though I agree the coffee tastes overprocessed. I'll keep my Folgers at home or a cup of premium from the corner gas station.
Now see, I don't feel sorry for the people behind the counter. They have the audacity to expect tips for pouring a cup of coffee. I'm sorry, but that isn't tip-worthy.
But, like Stephen Colbert said, what will all those former baristas do before band practice now?!
We as a society will need to come up with some other outlet for all that pent-up baristasity, before they take all those mad pouring, foaming, and cup-labeling skills to the streets, man. Maybe something like midnight basketball, but with coffee. Or something.
These comments make me feel warm inside...
Welp - No more double tall skinny decaf lattes for thousands of "coffee" drinkers. How will they make it through their mornings? Once they start going to the local cafes and order that drink - I can only imagine the baristas trying not to laugh.
Well, Starbucks is a novelty here in Brazil, and it's quite a hype. There are four or five shops in here.
Many people around here would whine on these news...
I like to go there when I'm in need of a litre of coffee, because their coffee is weak enough to drink a lot, but I prefer to do my own coffee at home or drink in small stores, though.
And no, the shops closing it's not a worth cause to fight for. It's only business. They broke lots of small coffee shops, now they're tasting their own poisoned coffee...
I just feel sorry for those who will lose their jobs.
To be clear, of course I feel for those that are just trying to make ends meet and will be losing their jobs.
And Starbucks deserves this.
Just so I'm clear.
JW
Fuck 'em I say (not the workers but I'm sure they can get a job at another coffee house unless they aren't hipster enough)
Sympathetic to the workers there but Starbucks itself not so much. In Denver you can see these places every other block Downtown. Even if their coffee is the best, there's not really that much demand. (FWIW, Seattle's Best Euro French roast is a fave of mine.)
Who needs a Starbucks employee at $7 an hour when they can be replaced by an $11,000 coffee machine:
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/magazine/16-08/mf_clover
Right on E! I commend you on your choice of commercial coffee! Solidarity everyone! Ok....I need to stop watching PCU. We're not gonna protest! We're not gonna protest! (one of Jeremy Piven's finer moments)
No Starbucks where I live, but I've had some in traveling. The coffee is awful because they want you to add milk and sugar and flavoring and pay a premium. If you can't make a good cup of plain coffee, don't call yourself a coffee shop.
but what can be expected you they over saturate cities with these damn stores. there are places where one is right in front of another! http://www.gergltd.com/users/isaac.gerg/starbucks
might be a big loss for Schultz since he stands to loose a lot with his great NBA moves. at the end i don't even drink coffee.
Save Starbucks? Please, close the lot of them. Foul grey-brown warm liquid served in cardboard tubes that leave a disgusting taste in the mouth. They can't make a decent cup of plain coffee - instant tastes far better. Abraham Lincoln's quote - "If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee." sums up Starbucks perfectly.
I checked that quote, totally true. Now that is a reader I can get behind. Making my point about the idiocy of Starbucks by quoting Abraham Lincoln.
Patty, I doff my cap to you. Fantastic.
Starbucks needs to go. They got greedy and screwed themselves. If they had remained a specialty shop they would have remained "special" Now they are just like every 7-eleven and Mcdonalds chain out there, only more expensive.
Douchebagery