Starbucks

I haven't shopped at Wally World for about two years in protest... But I don't think I can say I've actually made a difference, because I never really went that much, anyway. Plus, if my grandmother is awake, she's at Wal Mart, so she probably makes up for what I refuse to get. Thanks, Maw Maw.....

 

In my town, we used to have just two Sprawl-marts. One on the east side, and one on the west side of town. Now, those two buildings are empty because they needed to be Supersized. And, they built 3 more out in the county!! What does one little county need five walmarts and two empty buildings? Oh, and three empty kmarts. And I do mean "little county." I could drive from one end to the other in about 30 min.

 

in a lot of ways it's better to purchase local, conventionally-grown produce at a farm market than to purchase organic produce that is shipped across the country or fair-trade imported. organic agribusinesses are just another kind of agribusiness, they are becoming powerful and also greedy. they are weakening organic standards, and the cost in dollars, pollution and energy to ship food across country negates a lot of the benefits of buying organic in the first place. farm markets are wonderful, because they bring the consumer and the farmer closer together, not to mention directly supporting small-scale growers and family farms. which farm market do you shop at? the public market is about a mile and a half from me. i've shopped there often in the past, but most of my shopping is done at the co-op because i like assurance that what i buy is organic, or at least unsprayed. you need to be careful who you purchase from at the public market. a lot of the vendors there are not farmers themselves but produce distributers, (like the "bo-nanna, bo-nanna, bo-nanna!" guy) selling imported produce or food shipped from elsewhere. buying from them will not support local farms. it's important to talk to the person you're buying from, so you know where your food is coming from, and what's been sprayed on it!

i've noticed that while they carry a lot of stuff, like the patchwork, from vendors that are home-sewers, aaron's alley carries a lot of clothes from india. now i know some of those companies are good to their workers, with communities including schools and medical care, but others are just sweatshop slavers in love beads. i'm not sure about the companies aaron does business with, though. ditto for archimage, which carries a lot of chinese imports as well.

for the record, i, personally, have never posted anything on the picture forums. (although i do have dreds and reek of patchouli. ha, ha, ha.) but seriously, i do know what you're saying about the difference between those claiming to live a conscious lifestyle while merely being image-conscious, and those who may look less cool but walk their talk. a lot of people don't want to do the homework to find out where whatever it is they're buying comes from. they often assume that a company with a hippie image will have hippie business ethics. some may even believe they're supporting fair trade. it can be confusing to find out where products come from. but thrift shops and home-sewn clothes are fine for the image-conscious & crunchy, and don't directly support sweatshops - although there's the question of where the fabric comes from, or what the thrift shop supports (like the salvation army & the anti-gay/religious discrimination issue.)

sprawl-marts are the Enemy. you are correct, they are far worse than starbucks, on so many levels. what i don't understand is that there are empty plazas all over henrietta, and they still go and build new places for stores like target. why? there's perfectly good plazas already, and having them standing empty just looks awful and wastes space, money and resources, not to mention drawing crime.

 

Our town defeated Wal/Mart in court, they weren't allowed to build within city limits....of course there are several Meijers, and god knows how many supermarkets to fill the void.


I know what you mean about chopping down trees for more retail space Matt. i think I live in the area that invented urban sprawl, you should, or shouldn't see both the aged and abandoned commercial strips as well as the new chracterless developments that pop up like mushrooms, poisonous ones.

 

We have two empty walmarts, three empty kmarts, one empty home depot, that was built 10 yrs ago!! But, when superwalmart came, they moved with it! disgusting, but my mother in law told me a discount craft store is moving into one of the old walmarts!!Yea!!

 

Hmm I worked at starbucks for a bit and they do pay decent wages to their employees, offer health care insurance to workers, and you are able to move up in the company. I think most of their coffee is overoasted, but some are ok. The coffee is expensive, not cheap like walmart is in comparison to other shops. I don't buy *$ coffee I buy good coffee. and I'm not a coffee shop whore anymore!

 

I don't buy anything from Starbucks (can't afford it), but it's a very nice, cozy place to sit and study/read/chat with friends. I've heard nothing about how they treat their employees, but I know a couple of people who are hellbent on getting a job there.

I don't know anyone who is hellbent on getting a job at Walmart.

 

Starbucks might have started small but that does'nt diminsh there evil empire now does it. Where is the giving back to the little guy. they cater to wealtyhy art fags who have no time to stop and visit they just drive thru . I worked a t a privately owned coffee shop and the prices that Starfucks demands for ther so called wonder coffee is outlandish. I agree they have a good product line and when i need major caffiene I might use them but only if it is last resort for i prefer fresh.

 

My friend works there and he sliced his finger open last winter and had to get stiches, and Starbucks paid for the operation, and all the pharmacutical bills. Plus he gets all the free coffee and pastrys he wants which is always a plus.

 

Well, when you get hurt at work, the employer usually has to pay the bill. I worked at a family owned coffee shop a few years back, and I also cut myself. My boss paid for everything. It's called Workers' Comp. Insurance.

 

Okay... so its been months since anyone posted in this forum, but I just ran across it and felt I had to put my two cents in.


I don't know if it's just our Starbucks, or if it is actually around the country... but here the corporation gives back plenty to the community. They help fund volunteer efforts like building parks and playgrounds, they sponsor sports teams, etc. They ALSO, give back to the countries from which they buy their beans.

Anyway, I drink coffee at least 3 or 4 times a week (not always from Starbucks) and I don't really have a problem paying $4 per cup (though I remember when they were two-something) because I know the money is going to the corporation, but also the community.

 

ha yep. Same in Chicago. I remember walking down Broadway and on every corner there was a friggin starbucks. I came back to the place I was crashing at and just had this quizical look, like wtf? My friends must've felt my pain because they took me to a real coffee shop run by some gypsies. Now that coffee kicked ass. Maybe it's because Starbucks takes away from the independant idea of the 'coffee house' because they capitalized on it and franchised the shit out of it. I can't stand the place(s). .. and didn't Intelligentsia (sp?) have a 'not on every fuckin' corner in Chicago' bean sale a while back? I thought that was hillarious.

 

I am amazed that only two posts actually illustrate why Starbucks has been black balled by human rights activists. Back on page two and the one before this. It has little to do with how much they pay, how well they treat, and what benefits they offer their employees. It has nothing to do with where they get their beans from, or whether they give back to the community.

Starbucks, rather than dropping an enormous big box on the edge of town, drops clusters of outlets in targeted urban areas that are already populated with cafes and espresso bars. This strategy relies as much on an economy of scale as Wal-mart’s, and the effect on competitors is much the same.

Their goal is to “become the leading retailer and brand of coffee” so the company has concentrated its store-a-day growth in relatively few areas. Instead of plopping one outlet in every city in North America it waits until it can blitz an entire area and spread.

The idea is to saturate an area with stores until the coffee competition is so fierce that sales drop even at individual Starbucks outlets. This has been termed cannibalization. What it means is that while sales slow at individual stores, the total sales for the corporation grow because of the market saturation through clustering. The clustered stores can afford to take the beating, but any mom and pop coffeehouse is shit out of luck, and business.

Starbucks is criticized because of their aggressive strategy of market expansion, which has the added bonus of simultaneously eliminating any competition.

 

It's like a smart bomb...or a smart virus. Ugh.

Starbucks coffee is disgusting, and way too fucking expensive. I make far better coffee here at home for a lot less. And yeah, it's a place to go, and my friends and I go now and then, but really, I don't like the crowd. I always feel like such a yuppie when I walk in there. Everyone is off in their own world, a lot on their laptops or whatever. It's not a cool place to hang, its a stuffy, dimly lit place full of self concerned people with overpriced, low quality coffee. No thank you...

 

I'll never go in there again man. I much prefer the outdoors, or atleast a dive-bar with some balls. If you eavesdrop in that place you're bound to hear stuff like this: "I'm in this incredibly 'post-pop' progressive rock band, with the influence of classic rock, but also in the vain of Michael Jackson with a hint of Afro-Cuban Jazz." You just want to reach across the table and smack his ass in the back of the head. lol Even worse is hearing that self-important asshole when you've come in during the evening and he's summing up something that was apparently supposed to be done by one of his 'idiot' employees. That guy needs to get some Prozac, and bitch in his car where he can beat the hell out of the steering wheel while we can watch and laugh at him getting red faced in peace and quiet.

 

I invite you all to Seattle. Come to the starbucks by Westlake center, and tell me that you feel like a yuppie. Sure there are men in business suits on their cell phones, and women on their laptops... walk outside, 5 feet, to a 20-something playing guitar and a homeless man next to him with a drum.

Seriously now... people are so judgemental. As for them being the biggest and best, eh, whatever, they already have what they are going to have so I don't worry about it. Besides, I can only think of 6 starbucks' within a 40mi radius (though there are probably 30). Maybe it's my location, but the independent coffee houses are more abundant than anything else.

I give up. Too much work.

 

Wait a minute, you just asked everyone to come to SEATTLE to visit a STARBUCKS a haaa hahah ahahah ahahahahahahahaha...
I'm bustin a gut here.

 

Yes...... so are we the root of the evil?

 

no, no not at all. I just find it extremely odd. Seattle is known far and wide for it's coffee heritage and it's coffee joints. It seems one could reccomend any number of original establishments in the area. I could just go down the street to visit a Starbucks and know what I'd find at the Starbucks in Seattle. They're all the same, it's a franchise. That would be like inviting people to Austin to a Starbucks and neglecting to mention Mojos(plug) or any of the other coffee shops. I mean can't you reccomend someplace else for those who've never been to Seattle and would like a cool coffee shop to go to?

 

Starbucks actually isn't that bad compared to some corporations. Read the Oxfam report on them. They offer a Fair Trade line off coffee now, and have announced they're taking active steps to push for a better deal for developing world producers. Of course they could do more, and of course they're a big multinational, which I'm certainly not in favour of, but credit where credit's due....