More about Starbucks

Back in the dark depths of winter, in my Marketing class, we did a case study on Starbucks. The case took the position that Starbucks had created a "luxury product" that anyone could afford and was selling "prestige". I trashed it. I expressed utter despair with the riff raff that now frequent the place and the revolving staff of child labor. I said that Starbucks corporate, in trying to be "prestige", had positively lost its soul. I explained that, while not a coffee drinker, I was once an extremely regular patron that now prefers to read a book over a diet Coke at McDonald's.

I earned some negative comments from our class "facilitator". He seemed to think that I missed the point about Marketing.

The Tribune had a great article that suggests that I was not alone.