That seems impossible, at least from my perspective as a New Yorker. There are places in Manhattan where there are Starbuckses across the street from each other, and still they have both lines of caffeine fiends out the door.
And yet... I popped into a Starbucks today as I ran between three movie screenings, and it was almost empty. Which is bizarre for a Starbucks in Manhattan, at least of late. So perhaps it's not so strange to hear that the chain's earnings dropped 69 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, and that the chain is about to cut 6,700 jobs and close 300 more stores (that's above the 600-plus stores the company had previously said it would shutter).
What's more:
[Chief Executive Officer Howard] Schultz also asked the board to cut his annual base pay to less than $10,000, or the minimum required to maintain benefits for him and his family, spokeswoman Deb Trevino said today in a telephone interview. His base pay was about $1.2 million in 2008. Starbucks is also selling a corporate jet, bringing the fleet to one plane following a similar sale late last year.
At least that's a grown-up way to deal with the crap we're all getting saddled with at the moment.
Starbucks' coffee isn't my favorite, but Dunkin Donuts doesn't let you sit in their stores for hours working on your laptop, and Cosi's free wifi sucks next to the for-pay wifi Starbucks offers (and which I have a monthly account with). I've been a loyal Starbucks customer for years because as long as I have my laptop and my cell phone, Starbucks can be my office. They don't even demand that you actually buy something. But I always do.
Then again, those $4.39 lattes could be the reason their profits are down. Not that I didn't have one of those today when I popped in. But still.
(There are also lots of pubs, and hybrid coffee-and-beer serving venues).