Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"The architecture and ambience of [classic cafes] is fast being levelled in a kind of massive cultural, corporate napalming by the big coffee chains... they will not rest until every street in the West is a branded mall selling their wares. Orwell's nightmare vision in 1984 was of a jackboot stamping on the human face forever. If the coffee corporates have their way, the future is best represented as a boiling skinny latte being spilt in the lap of humanity in perpetuity." (Adrian Maddox, The Observer, Aug 1 2004)
I think now that there are other places to buy coffee - Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Java Junction, It's A Grind, etc., Starbucks isn't the only game in town anymore. Even some gas stations (with a food mart attached) have cappucino and lattes.
bought my own cappacino machine, grinds the beans, froths the milk. It was pricey but easily paid for now with all the savings from staying out of starbucks. It is truely one of the best kitchen appliances I have ever purchased. I can have an iced hazelnut latte or a mocha cappacino, made the way I like every time. Personally I prefer my coffee to starbucks now. If I'm in the mood for just plain old coffee, I can make that with regular coffee maker. I think starbucks over saturated everywhere and when it was no longer a unique experience and the coffee wasn't consistant, it was doomed.
First... I haven't read this entire thread, so I may be repeating other posters' comments.
I think there are several reasons for their decline.
1) They grew so fast and so big that I beleive they reached an urban saturation point, and by continuing to open new locations they began to canibalize themself.
2) When they first started they high-end workers... and by high end, I mean for the fast food market. These employees fit into the coffee scene, and added to the atmosphere. There are only so many college grads that want to sell coffee, and as they grew larger, their employee pool became less deep.
3) McDonalds and Dunkin' Donuts sold competitive products for less money.
4) The coffee shop lifestyle may have been a fad that society has outgrown. Coffee shops and their clientele have become the butt of jokes...
5) They offered employees too many perks trying to be this "super-company" that could treat everyone well. When it comes down to dollars and cents, giving perks and benefits may have been at too high a cost.
3) McDonalds and Dunkin' Donuts sold competitive products for less money.
Personally, I'd write that sentence:
McDonalds and Dunkin' Donuts sold better tasting coffee for much less money.
Tastes differ, but I've been a coffee drinker for more than 35 years and I've always preferred McDonalds and Dunkin' Donuts coffee over most coffee chains and certainly more than the burnt taste of Starbucks coffee.
I never got hooked on coffee. It really does not even taste good. But I was hooked on Starbucks Iced Mocha for years. I have since abandoned Starbucks for Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Seattle's Best and Its a Grind. So much better then that Starbucks burnt taste. That same burnt taste coffee drinkers tell me about.
Im not so sure this whole issue is so much about the price of a cup. Buying a drink and sitting in a quiet, safe, people watching atmosphere and taking your time sipping your favorite drink has more to do with it. Ask anyone from Seattle or Vancouver, BC what I am talking about.
I cut way back but still buy my iced mochas. But not from Starbucks anymore.
On the plus side, Starbucks has great employees with good attitudes. That's not hyperbole. Corporate America should take note, paying your employees a decent wage with benefits does makes for a better experience.
On the minus side, their coffee is overrated. If like me you like black coffee, their coffee is just too roasted tasting and lacks distinctiveness... they all tend to taste more like their roasting process than the individual coffees. It's a west coast coffee thing. No wonder they mostly sell milky coffee drinks. McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts really do have "better" coffee. Too bad their service isn't as good.
Starbucks could start selling even a cheap coffee that is at least distinctive (even 5 O'clock is better than their bland roastiness), sell $1 per cup or less, and I'd probably be more inclined to go there.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
