Starbucks Sells Coffee...And Refuge
source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33045689/ns/business-food_inc/
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- jmsrmy
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[A] sense of community is what's missing from Starbucks, a conclusion [historian and author Bryant Simon] reached after visiting about 425 of its coffee shops in nine countries. And yet millions of people patronize the outlets each day.
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.2)
"Rarely ... do these different people doing different things actually talk and exchange ideas, but talk and ideas are crucial to the making of community," he writes.
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.7)
Simon, a history professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, has spent the past few years figuring out why. His new book, "Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks," is meant "to be part of a public debate about what our purchases mean ... (and) how consumption shapes our lives even when we don't intend it to," Simon said.
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.3)
Seattle-based Starbucks had nearly $10.4 billion in revenue in 2008. Simon, however, argues the true cost of macchiatos and frappuccinos is much greater — that Starbucks, a private corporation, has enriched itself in part by taking advantage of Americans' impoverished civic life.
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.4)
Simon writes that while people once were able to find meaningful conversation and debate at libraries, recreation centers and parks, those public spaces have become less available — and less desirable — since municipal resources are focused elsewhere.
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.5)
"Given that we seem so reliant on Starbucks as part of the urban infrastructure and suburban infrastructure," Grazian said, "we should be interested in thinking about what it means when so much of our public sphere is taken over by a private enterprise."
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.9)
[more details at the link...]
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.2)
"Rarely ... do these different people doing different things actually talk and exchange ideas, but talk and ideas are crucial to the making of community," he writes.
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.7)
Simon, a history professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, has spent the past few years figuring out why. His new book, "Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks," is meant "to be part of a public debate about what our purchases mean ... (and) how consumption shapes our lives even when we don't intend it to," Simon said.
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.3)
Seattle-based Starbucks had nearly $10.4 billion in revenue in 2008. Simon, however, argues the true cost of macchiatos and frappuccinos is much greater — that Starbucks, a private corporation, has enriched itself in part by taking advantage of Americans' impoverished civic life.
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.4)
Simon writes that while people once were able to find meaningful conversation and debate at libraries, recreation centers and parks, those public spaces have become less available — and less desirable — since municipal resources are focused elsewhere.
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.5)
"Given that we seem so reliant on Starbucks as part of the urban infrastructure and suburban infrastructure," Grazian said, "we should be interested in thinking about what it means when so much of our public sphere is taken over by a private enterprise."
(AP, 2009, September 27, par.9)
[more details at the link...]
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- groups:
- Community, The Retail Sector, Human Behavior
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- tags:
- Community, Retail, Starbucks, Consumer Behavior
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FishaHouse777
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Bullsh*t!
I personally love to go to starbucks and sit down with a book and a cup of Venti White Chocolate Mocha Hot.
If people don't take advantage of what starbucks has to offer, like this Simon guy, which is a serene place to relax and conversate with friends than that's their problem. Don't blame starbucks. - 2 years ago
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FishaHouse777
