A Starbucks for Every Man, Woman and Child

My brother will likely snicker at today's topic since he says that when I don't have a firm topic in mind, I usually go back to blogging about coffee and Starbucks. Well, it's not so much that I don't have anything to blog about as much as this latest bit of news from the world of Starbucks Coffee is just too much to ignore. Virtually every corner of America has at least one Starbucks and very quickly, every country in the world is getting one too. It makes sense. Given the fact that the world is shrinking in size and that people are travelling all over the world, it becomes so much easier to see new places. But when travelling, there is that need to have something that reminds you of home. Apparently Starbucks wasn't content to let McDonald's fill that need so they are also determined to open 40,000 new stores across the globe.

Now there's nothing too extraordinary about that in and of itself, but if you look at certain markets, you would think that they were at their saturation point already. Apparently that's not the case. In places like Washington, DC you can't go more than a block it seems without running into a Starbucks. The immediate question that comes up is why would you build so many in such close proximity. The higher-ups at Starbucks believe it is because they know people are impatient. People are impatient and because of that they hate to wait for coffee which is more of a luxury item (and at current prices... it is definitely a luxury). Making people wait gives them time to rethink their decision and if they realize that they are simply waiting for coffee they may not stick around.

The choice then is to offer up more locations. Why walk across the street when there's a Starbucks in the building already. If you're working on the 50th floor, why ride the elevator to the ground floor when there's one on the 40th floor? Why wait behind three people when the location next door only has one? I went to the Tysons Corner Center mall the other day and I realized that there was a new Starbucks there. It was no more than 200 yards from the older, original mall location but it there it is. It's probably a good thing. During Christmas, everyone needs a jolt of java and waiting in line with your arms laden with Christmas presents can be aggravating. At least this may alleviate some of the waiting.

If this trend continues, and in all likelihood it will, then soon enough there will be Starbucks for every man, woman and child in the country. I don't know what the current ratio of Starbucks to people is, but I am reasonably sure that in places like Vienna, Virginia, it must be around 1 Starbucks for every 5 people. As I've said before, you can go from Vienna to Route 66, a length of 5 miles or so by going from Starbucks to Starbucks. No need to go without your java is there? I can't wait until the open one in my kitchen; but then again, I don't want to stagger that far in the morning. Perhaps I can complain and then they'll open one in the bedroom!