posted March 24, 2007 01:36 PM         

also the cafe in barnes and noble. if it's a b&n cafe, they're still serving starbucks products. the happiness factor increases with a bookstore cafe. and you can buy a cute membership card there, to make you feel all special and inclusive, that will save you %10 on every purchase, including cafe products.

i take my babe, and he gets a blueberry coffee cake, and i get a delicious hot chocolate (i love hot drinks)...and we feel that all is well with the world for a short while.

i've never felt the ire of a proprietor wishing my absence...perhaps i'm just insensitive that way...haha....now i'll probably notice everywhere i go.

i think i've seen one coffee bean....long ago...if i recall, they seem much more authentic than commercial. it takes a lot of effort to find a coffee shop other than starbucks or the big bookstore corporations here.

posted March 25, 2007 09:28 AM         

So much laughter and Love ... so much fun! Starting to get nostalgic here ...

I haven't been into a Starbucks much since then (it's just not the same) and have recently been trying to quit coffee. Good luck so far.

posted March 25, 2007 02:49 PM         

we have borders also...both they and barnes and noble are large bookstore corporations. i patronize both. i have not seen starbucks in borders though. they do have cafes in their stores however. i usually indulge there too.

i should seek out a small coffee shop of course. i'd still go to starbucks though, i imagine. it's their magic, or alpha waves....or.....whatever. just don't know.

posted March 28, 2007 04:23 AM         

now that i no longer drink coffee though, i so enjoy chicory tea...celestial seasonings -- non-caffeine (and good with cream).

sweet ~

Starbucks customers pay it backward
By Michelle Koetters

BLOOMINGTON — Call it the spirit of the season. For more than three hours Tuesday, drive-through customers at the Starbucks on Bloomington’s east side didn’t pay for the coffee they ordered.

Rather, as each customer reached the drive-through window, he or she was told the order had been paid by the driver who had just pulled away.

By the time it was over, about 142 people had spread the Christmas spirit.

It all started about 9:20 a.m. when an anonymous woman told the drive-through worker at the restaurant at Veterans Parkway and Washington Street that she wanted to pay for the person behind her in line, said employee Erik Zambrano.

“She just wanted to wish the next person a merry Christmas,” Zambrano said.

Initially, the Pantagraph heard the spirit of giving was going on at the nearby Krispy Kreme doughnut business. But a check showed it wasn’t going on there.

But a later inquiry at Starbucks proved the Christmas spirit was alive and well. In fact, said Zambrano, people kept paying for the orders of the motorists in front of them until 12:57 p.m.

“I explained the person in front of them had paid for their order. Customers would offer to pay for the order behind them,” Zambrano said. “Typically, they were ecstatic the person had paid for their order.”

Customers really wanted to keep the chain going, said Zambrano, adding, “It has happened before. Someone would pay for a drink, but not that many. (Tuesday) it just went on and on and on.”

Occasionally, the store saw some breaks in business, but the random acts of kindness didn’t end just because the line was empty: A few drivers donated about $5 toward the next person’s order if no one else was waiting, Zambrano said.

A typical order was $3 to $5, he said, though an occasional person had a large order.

“Sometimes, they would pay part of those large orders,” Zambrano said. “Then (the person who placed the order) would pay the rest, but that didn’t happen too often.”

posted April 28, 2007 10:54 AM         

She's just great.

posted April 28, 2007 10:59 PM         

I have to admit I have a moral issue against Starbucks- its not pretty. I hate the marketing of an atmosphere, and yet that's the very thing that draws people to them- the atmosphere isn't THAT bad, I can at least say that.

I would much rather go to that independently owned place with the tatooed freaks and mismatched furniture with cigarette burns on the arms and wobbly table legs. there would be some wretched indie band band playing too loudly over a distorted stereo system, and mostly likely the staff is doing drugs in the back kitchen.

I cut my teeth on places like this, and I despise Starbucks for slicking it up and marketing the beejesus out of it. i will give them points for making "going out for coffee" accessible to everyone, but its just not the same.

I am just old- I miss the good ole days, drinking coffee in some dive after clubbing.

The staff is usually nice, but I have never gotten a good cup of coffee at one.

posted August 02, 2007 07:57 PM         

it was SOOO good, incomparable.

posted August 04, 2007 04:47 PM         

Customers enjoy their drinks on the patio of the Starbucks at Village Center Circle in Summerlin on Sunday. The company raised prices on its drinks an average of 11 cents a cup on Oct. 6.

Customers sit inside a Starbucks on April 14 in Seattle. Prices at Starbucks went up an average of 11 cents a cup on Oct. 6, but regular customers say the increase is unlikely to keep them away.

Eleven cents isn't enough to buy a gumball from a machine or send a postcard across town. But it's enough to raise a furor, at least among some Starbucks coffee drinkers.

On Oct. 6, the Seattle coffee giant raised drink prices at company-owned stores in North America by an average of 11 cents, or about 3 percent by Banc of America Securities estimates.

In a statement announcing the increase, Starbucks Corp. noted it hadn't raised drink prices since 2000. Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz told CNNMoney higher health care, dairy and coffee costs combined to prompt the increase.

Coffee and sugar prices, up 36 percent and 39 percent, respectively, by Bloomberg News estimates, may have figured in the drink-price increase. The boost is showing up at the company's 88 Las Vegas Valley outlets, which include both free-standing stores and supermarket kiosks.

The Starbucks story sparked nationwide buzz, starting in The Wall Street Journal and spreading to CNN and even NBC's "Today" show. It also left some local coffee drinkers re-examining their habits, or shrugging.

Chris Bradshaw, a 47-year-old who lives in Dallas but is in Las Vegas weekly to operate Lasvegas.com, visits Starbucks three times weekly for venti decaf mocha lattes. She knew her drink's preboost price by memory: $3.60.

"I already know I'm spending too much money," Bradshaw said. "The price increase may cause me to think about the price in a way I haven't thought of it before. But I doubt it will make an impact; it won't change my habit."

Shelli McCormick, a 31-year-old Las Vegan, said she cut her Starbucks consumption before the increase. She used to go four or five times a week for grande soy chai lattes, but now she goes just twice.

"Right now the difference in price isn't that much." McCormick said. "But it makes you wonder how often they'll raise their prices. It's expensive as it is."

Executives at rival Southern Nevada java joints say their clientele has been chattering for days about Starbucks' suddenly pricier coffee. But Gerry Alesia, a co-franchise owner of It's a Grind, which operates four local shops, and Jitters Chief Financial Officer Chris Beeson, whose company operates six local shops, said they don't plan to raise their prices.

Jeffrey Fine, who operates 10 Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shops in Southern Nevada, however, said he's considering a price boost.

"There's pricing pressure across the board. Coffee is up, milk is up. Cups, lids, everything has gone up," he said. "I think what happens at Starbucks reflects what's happening across the industry. That price increase that Starbucks has made and that we're contemplating won't come anywhere near to covering the increased costs we've incurred."

Fine wasn't so sure coffee hounds would drop Starbucks and head to his shops, but he hoped so. At least one Starbucks drinker, Summerlin resident and freelance writer Ruth Furman, said she'd try a rival. When she heard of Starbucks' pricier drinks, the 38-year-old moved a networking meeting to It's a Grind.

Furman said she admires Starbucks' efforts to treat its workers well and serve local communities. But, she said, the coffee's getting expensive.

"The Starbucks price hike is enough to make me change my habits on principal," Furman said. "While I admire the way the Starbucks is run ... at nearly $2 for a cup of drip coffee, the prices are getting a bit crazy."

Morningstar analyst Carl Sibilski told CBS MarketWatch recently that Starbucks' price increase would help the company boost profits while perturbing customers minimally. Stock traders bid up the company's stock 2.5 percent in the two days following the Sept. 27 price-boost announcement, sending it to $45.50 from $44.38. Shares continue to climb, closing at $49.47 Friday, up $2.08 for the week.

"I think they'll be able to get away with this price increase without upsetting too many customers," Sibilski told CBS MarketWatch. "This is more of an efficiency issue for them. It's a way to squeeze more money out of their existing stores."

The price boost isn't inspiring angst or anger in everyone. It left Mark Olson, a 47-year-old Henderson resident, laughing. An 11-cent price increase didn't make him blink at gasoline pumps, he said, and neither will this.

"It's hysterical," he said. "If I'm stupid enough to pay $2 for something I can make at home for less, what difference does it make if they raise the price by 11 cents?"

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Oct-16-Sat-2004/business/24971883.html

Starbucks Says It Will Raise Price Of Coffee

POSTED: 4:46 pm EDT July 23, 2007
UPDATED: 4:48 pm EDT July 23, 2007

SEATTLE -- Starbucks Corp. said Monday it was raising prices for its coffee and other freshly made drinks in most of its U.S. stores by 9 cents this month, citing rising costs, including dairy products, energy and fuel.

In a statement issued after markets closed for regular trading, Starbucks said the price hike will take effect July 31, bumping the cost of most drinks by about 3 percent.

The increase will apply to coffees, lattes, frozen Frappuccinos and some tea-based drinks, including fruit and tea blends made behind the counters in all of its domestic company-operated stores, company spokesman Brandon Borrman said.

The increase will not apply to bottled drinks or food, Borrman said.

The company's last price increase -- 5 cents -- took effect Oct. 3, 2006.

The world's largest specialty coffee retailer has nearly than 6,300 company-operated stores in the United States, plus about 3,500 licensed stores. It has almost 14,000 stores worldwide.

Shares of Starbucks rose 47 cents, or 1.7 percent, to close at $28.17 Monday.

posted September 06, 2007 10:05 PM         

It was inevitable. Russia already has McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, TGI Friday’s and Subway.

So it wasn’t a question whether or not Starbucks would also make it here. It was only a matter of when.

Employees at Russia’s first Starbucks coffee shop pose before a ribbon-cutting ceremony on opening day.

And Thursday morning, with little fanfare and a quick ribbon-cutting ceremony, Starbucks opened its first coffee shop in a shopping mall just outside Moscow.

The low-key opening was no surprise. Starbucks may have opted for what company executives called a "soft launch" for their first Russian store in order to test the Russian waters for Starbucks’ potential success.

Muscovites coffee culture
It’s a bit late to jump into the coffee shop chain scene in Moscow. Local franchises like Coffee House and Shokoladnitsa are quite dominant in Moscow. In some areas, they even reach the Starbucks standard that I remember from living in New York – two stores from the same company located right across the street from each other.

Furthermore, while the café culture is strong in Moscow, the Starbucks culture isn’t necessarily so. It’s rare to see someone walking down a Moscow street drinking coffee on the go. Muscovites prefer a sit-down café where the waiter serves you, not where you have to wait to bring your own coffee to the table.

And two curious onlookers said they thought Starbucks had a shot in Russia and were willing to give it a try – until they found out that all Starbucks are non-smoking.

Cultural concessions for the local market
Starbucks is making a few concessions to the local flavor by offering actual mugs in addition to paper cups and a yet-to-be-opened outdoor veranda where people can smoke.

But for those who already know and love Starbucks, its success is all but certain. The first cup of brew sold today was to Alyona Mikhailova, who had already tried Starbucks from her travels abroad. She said that in comparison to Russian coffee shops, "Starbucks is a completely different concept, completely different coffee, and completely different experience."

When Anne, a Seattle-native and self-defined Starbucks fan, came out of the supermarket next to Starbucks and saw that it was up and running, she yelled out in surprise and came running over. She had no doubt that Starbucks would "definitely work here. It works everywhere."

Even people who had never heard of Starbucks figured it would do well, given the continued economic growth in Moscow that gets people out of the house and into cafes and restaurants.

Slow start
Still, every country has its own nuances, as Starbucks learned the hard way. Their plans to open in Russia were put on hold until 2005, when they won a court case against a Russian trademark squatter who claimed that he owned the rights to the Starbucks name in Russia and wanted $600,000 from the company to give it up.

So the coffee giant is taking it slow, saying they will open just one store in Moscow city center by the end of the year as they add another jewel to the Starbucks crown.