Arlington: The Rap (SLYT)
posted by Wet Spot on Jun 16, 2009 - 54 comments

Despite the much-maligned economy, people are seemingly starting the holiday season early this year in Loveland, Colorado by "paying it forward" for strangers' coffee at a Starbucks drive-through. This has happened in 2006 and similar events were debated last year on the blue, which led me to believe it was not a real phenomenon. CNN has the video version of the first link with interviews of those involved. Maybe it's not a PR stunt after all.
posted by knile on Nov 18, 2008 - 75 comments

Browse the demise of Starbucks' stores in this searchable list of all 600 closures.
posted by plexi on Jul 18, 2008 - 176 comments

The Starbucks reinvention. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Howard Schultz announces thorough overhaul, unveils new espresso maker as replacement for oft-criticized Verismo machines. Yet some observers insist that the Mastrena solution, which puts a premium on consistency, will come up with low marks in quality and taste.
posted by Gordion Knott on Mar 21, 2008 - 61 comments

Don't Fear Starbucks

Soon after declining Starbucks's buyout offer, Hyman received the expected news that the company was opening up next to one of his stores. But instead of panicking, he decided to call his friend Jim Stewart, founder of the Seattle's Best Coffee chain, to find out what really happens when a Starbucks opens nearby. "You're going to love it," Stewart reported. "They'll do all of your marketing for you, and your sales will soar".

Contrary to popular belief Starbucks, instead of destroying it, is promoting a thriving Mom & Pop coffee house industry. With the number of independent owned stores growing 40% between 2000 and 2005 and a less than 10% failure rate you might want to start looking for an empty storefront next to your local branch of Seattle's biggest export.
posted by PenDevil on Dec 30, 2007 - 120 comments

The Most Expensive Drink at Starbucks.
posted by dhammond on Dec 21, 2007 - 65 comments

Mark Malkoff visits, buys, and consumes something from all 171 Starbucks in Manhattan in one day. (single link non-youtube video post)
posted by alms on Jul 19, 2007 - 77 comments

Starbucking, the true story of one man's highly caffeinated journey. Starbucking is a documentary film that follows Winter, a man who has dedicated his life to visiting every Starbucks in the world. He's been to 6,000 Starbucks (and counting) since 1997, and is trying to break his record of visiting 28 Starbucks in a day. So, "sit back, have a cup of joe, and watch as one man defies society's norms in a never ending search for the lady in green."
posted by londontube on Mar 22, 2007 - 239 comments

How much is too much? Here in Manhattan I can choose from exactly 197 Starbucks locations. Currently Starbucks continues to open 5 new stores a day. Its nice to have choices, but is anything sacred anymore? Hell, even National Slow Down Week (courtesy of Adbusters.org) has coffee in the picture.
posted by allkindsoftime on Jan 19, 2007 - 163 comments

Starbucks, Ethiopia and Intellectual Property. It was only a matter of time before Starbucks went up against a nation-state. Starbucks responds that they just want to help and that Ethiopia's position is based on unsound advice. Do their advisors know better than Oxfam? [oxfam response]. Maybe. Starbucks is breaking into the entertainment business quite effectively. Can corporate interest and social responsibility go hand in hand? Either way, the Pumpkin Spice Latte is yummy.
posted by cal71 on Oct 27, 2006 - 24 comments

Coffee, anyone? PDF found here Everyone needs that nice pick-me-up in the morning, after all. Don't worry - have a nice espesso!
posted by lalochezia on Sep 14, 2006 - 55 comments

The International Networks Archive is an effort by a group of sociologists to understand 2,000 years of globalization through mapping the network of transactions that link the world, rather than geography. The project is still ongoing, but you can see some of the results: an interactive map that uses travel time to visualize the world; a graphic of the growth of Starbucks and McDonalds; the distribution of government jobs (apparently the 3,412 postal inspectors can carry firearms); the cashflows of movies and tobacco; and, of course, the world at night. There is also access to a lot of detailed data, as well as more maps and information at the Mapping Globalization wiki.
posted by blahblahblah on Aug 22, 2006 - 5 comments

Tom Hanks to star in some movie about Starbucks
posted by rottytooth on Mar 29, 2006 - 50 comments

The 100 Best Companies to Work For. The Top Ten starting with #1: Genentech, Wegmans, Valero Energy, Griffin Hospital, W.L. Gore, Container Store, Vision Service Plan, J.M. Smucker, REI, S.C. Johnson & Son. But The Complete List has some surprises. It puts Microsoft at #42 behind Starbucks at #29. (Starbucks pays $500 towards tuition to part-timers who work there for more than a year). By clicking on the company links on the List you get stats on employee salaries, turnover, minority hiring etc, learning for instance, that the most common job at Microsoft pays $107,000/year.
posted by storybored on Jan 18, 2006 - 53 comments

The world's first strike at a Starbucks reportedly occurred today in Auckland, New Zealand. Sure, it was only an hour-long wildcat strike; but like the multinationals keep telling us, it's a start.
posted by newscouch on Nov 22, 2005 - 51 comments

The Starbucks Cup. An icon of taste and excess. On one hand, it's honored by the National Recycling Coalition for adding post-consumer recycled content (wow, 10%!). On the other hand, it's announced that the cups will soon feature religious nuggets from Rick Warren, author of the Purpose-Driven Publishing Empire. What gives?
posted by billder on Oct 25, 2005 - 68 comments

Why is everybody mad about the cups?

Last month there were those who were mad about “made-in-Israel-paper cups” at the King Khaled National Guard Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Now it’s a quote from novelist Armistead Maupin inscribed on Starbucks coffee cups at Baylor University that have made others mad!

Concerned Women for America charged that Starbucks is promoting a homosexual agenda with some paper cups containing Maupin’s quote:

"My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too damn short."

CWA demanded that the cups containing the quote be removed from campus. Baylor Dining Services complied with the request.

(What exactly is the “homosexual agenda”?)
posted by ericb on Sep 21, 2005 - 95 comments

Coffee Starbucks and the Revolution PDF
The Tatler. First post: April 12, 1709.
...wherein I shall from time to time report and consider all matters of what kind soever that shall occur to me, and publish such my advices and reflections every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday in the week for the convenience of the post. I have also resolved to have something which may be of entertainment to the fair sex...
posted by Tlogmer on Jun 11, 2005 - 10 comments

Man brings entire desktop computer into a Starbucks and sets it up.
I took these pictures tonight of this guy who appears to have lugged his whole computer system into the Starbucks on 41st and Madison. I don't see any coffee anywhere either... After much speculation about the person, Stephanie and Chris interview him.
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Apr 8, 2005 - 32 comments

The mission of delocator.net is to assist the public in finding and supporting independently owned cafés. There's a thinly-veiled stance against a certain coffee company, but the site's a great community-driven toolkit for finding yourself a good cup of joe anywhere in the US.
posted by mkultra on Apr 5, 2005 - 53 comments

We Built This Starbucks on Heart and Soul! [MP3] The scene: The Starbucks Licensed Stores Awards ceremony, a celebratory/motivational leadership conference, held this evening in the fourth-floor ballroom of the Washington State Convention Center ... But things took a turn for the surreal when the emcee announced "something special for you all--Jefferson Starbucks!" after which the hydraulic stage rotated to reveal a pretend band comprised of the upper-management folk the audience had heard speak earlier in the evening. More in the Thursday wrap-up of The Stranger's "Last Days" column.
posted by pfafflin on Mar 4, 2005 - 38 comments

Letters to a new employee I think it's so nice that the President and CEO of Starbucks International would send a welcome letter[s] to such an unimportant person. Don't you?
posted by johnj on Dec 28, 2004 - 28 comments

Obsessions come in many sizes and flavors - small, tall or veinte. Meet the man who is living the Traveling Salesman Problem by attempting to visit every starbucks.
posted by elwoodwiles on Jul 9, 2004 - 25 comments

Glen! Glen Glen Glen! [QuickTime]
posted by kirkaracha on Jul 2, 2004 - 27 comments

A Very Christian Proposal-via-Scavenger-Hunt in Starbuck's Headquarters Hometown "The whole day was so much fun, and absolutely perfect. It meant so much to me that Sean included the people that were important in our lives. This really is the best engagement story I've ever heard - I'm overwhelmed that it is actually mine!"
posted by scarabic on May 30, 2004 - 47 comments

Pentagon Flunky Misplaces 9/11 Talking Points at Starbucks A Pentagon employee left documents with talking points to help Donald Rumsfeld deal with questions about 9/11 on Sunday political chat shows. The employee is almost certainly due to get fired, because the documents even included a hand-drawn map to Donald Rumsfeld's house! (Note: documents in pdf file.)
posted by jonp72 on Mar 31, 2004 - 13 comments

In Defense of Ikea and Starbucks. "[If] you're so desperate for your own soixante-huit moment that you can sit there with a straight face and tell me that you're being oppressed by flat-packable pine furniture with goofy pseudo-Scandinavian names, I'd advise you to spend a few days working with child slaves in the Sudan, or something." MeFite adamgreenfield pleads for "a little sense of scale."
posted by Vidiot on Jan 30, 2004 - 85 comments

Starbucks sucks! ' The culprits went as far as to stick "closed" and "for lease" signs and notices on the stores -- using bogus Starbucks Corp. letterhead -- announcing that "thousands of retail locations worldwide" were closing, and the Seattle- based company was "making room for local coffee bars." ' I'd be lying if I claimed that I've never fantasized about doing something like this. If nothing else, admire the organizational skills required to pull this off.
posted by majcher on Aug 6, 2003 - 101 comments

Personality type: Asshat. You carry around philosophy books you haven't read and wear trendy wire-rimmed glasses even though you have perfect vision. You've probably added an accent to your name or changed the pronunciation to seem sophisticated. You hang out in coffee shops because you don't have a job because you got your degree in French Poetry. People who drink capuccino are notorious for spouting off angry, liberal opinions about issues they don't understand.
The Oracle of Starbucks. (via chemaccino)
posted by PrinceValium on May 22, 2003 - 30 comments

Why does everyone have a tip jar now? And where do you draw the line when it comes to baiting the jar? Starbucks? Take-out counters? Drive-thrus? How about the girl that takes your money and stamps your hand at a nightclub? While tipping is the economy of an underpaid service industry, it seems the jar itself has gotten out of hand and onto every counter with a dollar already conveniently inside.

If it is appropriate for everyone who performs any kind of public service to be entitled to a tip, why aren't we tossing our coin to police officers, teachers, or flight attendants?
posted by FearTormento on May 12, 2003 - 68 comments

How many different Starbucks outlets in North America have you been to? Less than 3,381? If so, this guy has you beat. See Winter's caffeine-propelled roadtrip stats and peruse his mind-numbing photo gallery.
Do not try this at home; you WILL end up looking like this.
posted by PrinceValium on Jan 30, 2003 - 31 comments

I've never had a cup of coffee in my life. Can't stand the smell. However, if I were able to watch Reverend Billy's Starbucks Spat Theatre I'd be living there 24/7. Has anyone witnessed one of these performances? [via an email i got from bud]
posted by dobbs on Nov 17, 2002 - 15 comments

Want your independent coffeehouse to be a success? Pray for a Starbucks to open next door.
posted by NortonDC on Sep 24, 2002 - 54 comments

Starbucks announces wireless Internet access in stores and plans to charge customers for it: $29.99/month for access in one store, or $49.99/month for access in all equipped stores nationwide. Seems a little pricey to me. And besides, don't cool coffeehouses offer free wireless Internet access? They're sure getting lots of coverage of the announcement in any case.
posted by tippiedog on Aug 22, 2002 - 21 comments

"How Much Starbucks is Too Much?" This article predicts that our favourite caffeine pushers could double the number of outlets in the US without saturating the market. Pretty graphs, but has anyone told this guy about Starbucks' more sinister plans? warning, second link = Onion story
posted by nprigoda on Aug 1, 2002 - 31 comments

New Starbucks Slogan: "For Your Health".... new research shows that three cups of coffee or more every day might reduce risk of alzheimers by 60%. I'm sure dedicated coffee drinkers really need another reason....
posted by LuxFX on Jul 15, 2002 - 14 comments

Starbuckling A writer from the NY Post calls Starbucks HQ and says a reader told them that the company's "collapse into cool" ad campaign was too close a reference to Sept. 11 (the campaign posters featured a dragonfly; perhaps the reader misconstrued it as an airplane). As a result, Starbucks pulls the ad, and just to cover its ass said it "had intended no link between the image of the beverages and the terror attacks." Is the company just making a cautious PR move, or is this going too far?
posted by risenc on Jun 17, 2002 - 27 comments

Tips down at Starbucks For a while it seemed like tipping was proliferating out of control, including a tip jar in my local Subway, but now it's on the decline in Starbucks due to their new debit card. To get more money out of the customers, employees are holding strategy sessions to come up with "psychology tricks" and managers are reporting back to the mothership.
posted by NortonDC on Apr 6, 2002 - 76 comments

Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Gap.... If ever there was a candidate for being sued this site would be it... with a three-minute music video setting logos, brand names and glossy corporate imagery against adbusting in-jokes and shots of police brutality. Anti-capitalist anthem or the ultimate in product placement? And how long until the site's namesakes get it pulled off the Web?
posted by skylar on Feb 6, 2002 - 19 comments

urban coffee opportunities according to this map, there are 38 starbucks within my area code alone. and right down the block, there are 2 out of 4 storefronts, of which this map only notes one: meaning there are more coffee opportunities available. this is the full link, since i think the first one got cut off.

idea from adbusters, but i did the work myself!
posted by whoshotwho on Nov 16, 2001 - 40 comments

Starbucks charged rescuers for water. This is the kind of thing that makes me really sick, even if they appologized after.
posted by HoldenCaulfield on Sep 26, 2001 - 59 comments

Seattle's Coffee Messiah has been to the Garden of Gethsemane. Owner of independent Seattle coffee hotspot has been arrested for the alleged "Coffee Messiah" stickers found in and around an adjacent starbucks. Whatever I say! And on what grounds?
posted by crasspastor on Sep 2, 2001 - 18 comments

Free Starbucks internet use But you might have to go a bit out of your way to use it.
posted by Postroad on Apr 20, 2001 - 10 comments

Starbucks lays claim to 20% of all American cafes. Does anybody in this lately conservatized land of ours care on who's backs our wealth rests upon? Virtually every vegetable, piece of fruit, bottled soda, cup of coffee we ingest is produced at rock bottom prices for the corporations that exploit our neighbors to the south. Our way of life in the States is directly tied to how miserable the living/working conditions of laborers in "developing" countries are. Developing countries--what a misnomer. The only thing developing are profits for select Americans and/or fear that the threat of recession will negate the purchase of that little luxury car I've had my eye on.
posted by crasspastor on Mar 28, 2001 - 61 comments

Does this mean free lattes for the Cylons? Director Bryan Singer to work on a remake of BattleStar Galactica. Or is it going to be "BattleStar Galactica: The Next Generation"? What I'm wondering is: What's Starbucks going to do about it?
posted by brownpau on Mar 3, 2001 - 10 comments

Microsoft and Starbucks join forces to provide wireless Internet access for caffeine junkies. I was worried enough by this alliance ("Great Satan" and "Corporate Kudzu," etc.), but then I read that McDonald's is looking into doing the same thing. Sure, there is a certain convenience factor, but do we really need branded connectivity everywhere we go?
posted by mkhall on Jan 4, 2001 - 12 comments

Globalization sucks ... venti lattes through a Starbucks straw in Beijing's Forbidden City.
posted by allaboutgeorge on Nov 25, 2000 - 34 comments

Starbucks gets a new look. Sigh. More tabs. I really liked their old site and it was much better than their new home-grocer like design. Someone needs to spearhead a grass-roots organization to stop the spread of tabs. Any takers?
posted by Brilliantcrank on Nov 14, 2000 - 20 comments

Consumer Whore sued by Starbuck's. Another David vs. Goliath lawsuit over trademark infringment.
posted by Mick on Jun 1, 2000 - 2 comments

Does the Star Trek Coffee pose a threat to Starbucks?
posted by tiaka on May 15, 2000 - 2 comments