Comments on: Why Has Starbucks Conquered the World?

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 20:51:19 +0000

Hey Mike - there is just something about Starbucks that isn’t about coffee. It’s the atmosphere that I think most people find appealing. It’s a quiet and withdrawn place where you can experience a great cup of coffee - and not feel stressed or rushed. I think that is worth the money any day!!

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:32:20 +0000

Found this blog lost late, cannot believe how many comments a post on Starbucks with ellicit.

As a Starbucks employee, I can garuntee that we put nothing more in our coffee to make it addictive than the Girl Scouts put into their Thin Mint cookies.

By: JKS

JKS — Wed, 24 May 2006 13:21:59 +0000

My point exactly…..

By: Terry

Terry — Tue, 23 May 2006 20:47:47 +0000

Getting to the airport before 5AM to get the 6AM flight, calmness gets me through knowing there is a Starbucks at that gate. As I board the plane with the cup tightly clenched in my hand, I know all is well in the world.

By: Brian Burkett

Brian Burkett — Tue, 23 May 2006 12:14:41 +0000

Quoting Keith Brenton:

“I love Starbucks. But I’ve been reading too many Greg Kendall-Ball and Travis Stanley blogs to be able to patronize them anymore. I can’t justify spending $3.00 for a Starbucks cup and $0.15 for coffee when I know that money could feed a family of four in Africa for a week…”

I wonder if Travis or Greg ever spend $4.00 on a sandwich from Subway that cost about $0.75 to make?

We all spend lots of money on things that don’t cost near that much to make? How about computers, internet connections, cars, and the like? This is not directed towards anyone in particular, it just seems like a straw man arguement, and it is very tiring.

Travis and Greg say a lot of things with passion that haven’t been thought through very thoroughly, and make some comments that are pretty out there. Sorry…

By: alice

alice — Sun, 21 May 2006 22:03:49 +0000

Woo-hoo, don’t hold back baby!!

By: JKS

JKS — Sat, 20 May 2006 18:50:30 +0000

I don’t know if anyone will read this, since I am post 97… BUT I feel that I must say something.

I don’t drink coffee or soda. I don’t smoke or drink either.

But I must say how much I HATE (yes I know it is a strong word) HATE Starbucks. I hate SB just like I hate McDonalds. For the simple fact that they pretend to care about their customers, but all the while they sell something that is HARMFUL to our bodies. There is a reason some Christian groups don’t drink coffee or soda or beer or smoke … because they are ADDICTIVE!

But for some reason we all think being addicted to soda or coffee is cute or funny. It is socially acceptable. I don’t understand this. Anything that affects our brain like alcohol or caffeine (even large amounts of sugar) negatively impacts our ability to talk with God. It colors the relationship, and it makes a graven image out of whatever it is “we can’t live without” …. I cringe when I hear people say that they “can’t function” before their coffee or that they can’t “make it through the day” with out thier big gulp.

Money makes the world go around… and that is the only focus of Starbucks…. money… Whatever they can do or sell to get us lazy fat addicted Ameicans to spend our money on - and enjoy it is the corporations only goal.

Our goal is to lead a Christ centered life, to reflect him in all we do… being a slave to a corporation is not apart of that life.

By: Frankie Montgomery

Frankie Montgomery — Sat, 20 May 2006 03:00:16 +0000

J. Pierpont’s earlier post cracked me up. They just don’t make coffee makers like they used to. I learned to drink tea in Scotland simply in order to survive the cold. But it’s hard to beat coffee from the Kettle in Abilene. Or the coffee at Towne Crier. I remember my first experience at Starbucks a few years ago during a morning of Christmas shopping. After that one cup of coffee I ZOOMED all over the place, made quick decisions and was done in nothing flat. Kind of scared me!

By: Michele

Michele — Fri, 19 May 2006 17:17:20 +0000

Well, all this discussion, I will miss, but wanted to add this…..I am a TEA drinker and when it comes to tea, I much prefer strong tea. Which…BTW, I can get at Starbucks!

Coffee, tea, w/e go hand in hand, but I am surprised they allow it in a library!

By: J.Pierpont

J.Pierpont — Fri, 19 May 2006 17:11:56 +0000

“Coffee is for closers.”

By: Tim Lewis

Tim Lewis — Fri, 19 May 2006 16:35:26 +0000

There’s no reason to spend $4 on “coffee”. A plain tall coffee is $1.40 (no sales tax in Oregon!) at Starbucks and around that price just about everywhere else you go. The only time I get one of those expensive drinks is when my Fred Meyer Starbucks punch card is filled up and I get a FREEBIE!

Of course if I just spend $7 I can buy the unground beans at the store, and I have Starbucks for two people for about two weeks, which amounts to about $.50 per cup of coffee.

If Starbucks burns their beans, so does everyone else. That’s why the process of making the beans is called ROASTING.

By: HW

HW — Fri, 19 May 2006 11:59:55 +0000

My 14-year-old son became hooked on Starbucks on his school trip to Washington DC last summer. His travel group had a flight cancelled and spent 6 hours in O’Hare airport. Most of the kids decided to spend the last of their travel money on Starbucks - about 4 or 5 trips to the counter. They all came off the plane very energetic, but their poor chaperone looked pretty dazed. She has earned my undying respect.

By: paul

paul — Fri, 19 May 2006 10:11:32 +0000

Wow! I really got here late on this one. I don’t even like coffee but I love going to Starbucks with a group of friends. I am just a social drinker. It is just a fun place to sit around and talk.

Back at Harding I had a friend that worked at Western Sizzlin. He taught me a lesson I will never forget, “you don’t sell the steak, you sell the sizzle.”

I like the liquid candy bar comment too. It doesn’t even really taste like coffee. If it did I wouldn’t be drinking it.

By: Russ

Russ — Fri, 19 May 2006 09:59:55 +0000

Mike,
I too have lamented the world-domination of Starbucks. My take on the whole thing can be found here:
http://russandrebecca.blogspot.com/2006/04/scary-lady.html

By the way, a friend of mine works at SB in the Maybee Library. Her name is Ning and she’s a Christian friend of mine from Thailand. Drop by and tell her Russ says hello.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Fri, 19 May 2006 09:23:05 +0000

Oh Mike, this post was meant for me to respond: Just ask the Danley family, I am a Starbucks woman. (Their graduation gift to me was, of course, a Starbucks card. ) Here are a few thoughts from a Starbucks addict:

1. While Starbucks admittedly does not have the number one tasting coffee in the world, it’s all about the experience for me. My best friend at ACU and I would go to the Starbucks at Buffalo Gap and terrorize the place with our loudness. Once we went there eight consecutive days in a row. Let’s just say we were on a first-name basis with every single Starbucks employee. And the especially smart ones always knew what I wanted- “A tall, non-fat hazlenut white mocha with whip.”

If you a maniac social person, like I am, Starbucks is great to strike up a conversation, grab a copy of the NYTimes and just chill.

2. I love the fact that Starbucks sells Fair Trade coffee and has important policies for its employees, everyone from the counter to the farmers growing the coffee beans.

3. Now, about the competition: there are a lot of private coffee houses with much more personality, better drinks and more reasonable prices. I visit those places as well. It’s just that Starbucks is everywhere. There are two in the city next to me in southern Japan. In the States, Borders, Caribou Coffee and Seattle’s Best Coffee are contenders for competition, but none of them have really got the Starbucks edge. However, I will visit those if there’s not a Starbucks around OR if I’m in the mood for a particular drink that Starbucks does not sell.

Okay, I think that’s enough for now. Except, twice I gave up Starbucks for Lent and that was INSANE.

Teresa