© the eyeranian

I have not have Starbucks for years only because their coffee basically sucks. It is overly roasted leading a supremely bitter coffee no amount of sweetener can save.

What you say also will work for Borders...

I also try to avoid Starbucks, mostly because I think they are seriously overpriced.

I have to applaud your excercizing of consumer power (as opposed to, say, callling for government intervention) In the last 5 years we have seen many large national chains (Starbucks, Home Depot, Walmart) wipe out small mom and pop operations throughout the country. But its important to remember the dynamics involved. HD and WMT did not force anyone to shop at their stores, nore did they in any way force smaller stores to close up. Instead, they figured out how to get things to people much more conveniently AND for less money. Consumers simply opted to shop where they believed they got more value for the money, taking their business away from many less-efficient small operators.

But here is the beutiful part: Though thousands of small mom and pop shops were wiped out, 270 million American consumers greatly benefited from the trend, including millions of poor immigrants who need the discounts more than anyone. If you dont believe, go to Walmart.

Nima, a darker coffee is not a bad coffee. If you don't want to support Starbucks that is another story but when you talk about their quality I should say Starbucks is not bad as a commercial chain coffeeshop. Check this web site for more on different styles of raosts and the quality of coffee:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/coffee/
For coffee recepes check out this page:
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/java/recipes.html

I, too, am torn. I absolutely want to support Mom and Pops, especially in the food industry, but in my town, at least, Starbucks consistently has better quality coffee. The M&P's rely on teenagers behind the counter, who are, shall we say, "learning" about customer service, quality, etc. Talk about bitter, burnt --not to mention burning coffee! Lets not even talk about slow and sullen. Also, again probably due to staffing problems, their hours are not as convenient. I swing by every so often though, hoping for local charm to win against corporate clone.

Oh please!

People get off your soap boxes and face the reality of life. So what if a coffee shop chain does better than others? Perhaps those who bellyache shoud get off their lazy rear ends and work harder to make it a success.

Ramin is right. Lets not have an opinion, conform totally, dont exercize our rights as a consumer and trust big corporation to do what is best for all of us. hear, hear.

Wait, Ramin, what do you mean exactly? If you are saying that the single proprietorships should educate their employees, then I agree 100%. If you are saying that I should help them, then please explain how? I'm not afraid of confrontation, but even I am daunted by a surly 19-year old who feels oppressed by having to show up every day for two weeks before he can get a paycheck. I don't think most of them even drink coffee. Even the girls, who are pleasant enough in spite of the earrings in their eyebrows and tatoos on their necks are very defensive of anything which sounds like criticism. Should I jump over the counter and say "watch this!" My lazy-ass compromise is that I bought a good machine 2 years ago, and at least chez moi, I have the pleasure of excellence, with a cube of sugar every am.