I make my own lunches, eat at home with my family and save "going out" for special occassions or extended trips away from our kitchen.

A lot of it has to do with the expense of going out and spending money; but in the same turn our kids actually appreciate it when we do go out for a trest.

Yes, I brew my own coffee, cook my own food, clean my own house, cut my own grass, wash my own car (it's dirty now), etc...

The only loss I see from Starbucks closing 600 stores is the loss of jobs.

But the idea of more people finding a deeper appreciation for luxuries is appealing and I feel necessary to our "drive through" "disposable" society as we seem to have evolved into.

I am of course generalizing and I hope will be forgiven for doing such. I am not trying to point a finger at any one group or individual, but as our society as a whole. We seem to have become an eclectic group of wasteful, whiny, unappreciative bunch of self indulgant global brats who have lost the ability to even feed ourselves if sadly, we lost all of the conveniences of our modern world.

Sound extreme? I don't mean to be an extremist, just a gal seeing the world changing and noticing that we need to tone things down a bit, maybe get back to learning how to do things on our own without all of the conveniences, just in case one day those conveniences aren't available any longer and to teach the next generation how to do things themselves also...

The changes we are seeing in our economy, the closure of many small businesses and large corporation are just one indication of how our lives are changing and will still. There will certainly be some things that result from this that are negative, but we can always find some positive aspects of the change as well. These are the things I will try to focus on... like appreciation for the simpler things in life, learning to do things myself that I previously paid others to do, and finding humility in myself in an egotistically-bred and raised society.

This topic has been very thought provoking and I appreciate its originator. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of the discussion.

lol, way to quote Stalin, Adarga.

Check out the cartoons where they have fun with Starbuck's

Be advised the toons are not Politcaly Correct.

Foamy Rules!

1 lost job is a tragedy; 12,000, a statistic (or something like that).

You can't fault Starbucks for doing genius business, understanding what people want and being so f'in good at marketing a product. Hell, we would probably all be drinking McDonald's coffee (the crappy, burn-your-lap stuff they used to serve) if it wasn't for Starbucks. And yes, as coporations go, Starbucks does a lot of things right (treats workers well, seems to care about the environment). I drink Starbucks. I tend to like Starbucks for what it is. But you had to wonder where the threshold was, when they built three (or more) locations within visual distance of each other.

Great point on all the people becoming unemployed, no one is talking about that. Just bitching about coporate america blah blah blah.

No one uses cockles anymore. I want to bring it back.

i couldn't agree more pido, those are my thoughts exactly. not all of us live in areas with a bunch of local businesses, but i do have like 12 Starbucks within a quarter mile of my apartment. $1.75 is well worth it to me in my morning routine of coming to work. The Starbucks i go to has friendly people and good coffee. I think there would be a lot worse corporations out there for you people to cheer the demise of. The bottom line is why would you cheer for yet another blow to our already terrible economy and an increase to the unemployment rate. Thats 600 stores times probably at least 20 people per store. That's a lot of people out of jobs.

also, Stormwysper said cockles... lol

That's interesting, amoment; I pay $1.75 for my coffee at Starbucks--are you saying I can find gas for less than that? The only way I know of racking up a $5 bill is by adding all the syrups, sugars and other things that taint...er, flavor...the brew.
I gave up complaining about the price when I couldn't find an accessible (to me, that is), local place that was any cheaper, and when I considered that I pay over $2 for a soda or tea anytime I dine out. If I want it cheaper, I can make it at home (but I don't). But that also applies to just about anything: dinner is almost always cheaper when prepared at home, as are margaritas, martinis and all the other things we pay others to serve us.

I love arm chair politicking. It warms the cockles of the heart.

China Town, Kearny, Edison High Area, across the track from Downtown.
Can we say Corperate Racism!
Also why no Lowes, Home Depot, Target, Marshall's, Walmart, Ross, Savemart, Win Co, Food Co, ect...
I wonder if they will close the Kern Street SB? Then OB will have to go to the one by Community Hospial before the baseball game.
See you behind homeplate July 4th OB.
I hear the City is spending $1,200 a minute for the fire works show at the stadium.
$36,000 of wasted tax dollars for 30 minutes of fireworks.
The Grizzlies should pay for it not the taxpayer.
Especially with City budgets being cut back.

I think it's great that we can finally get back down to a reasonable idea of having a cup of coffee in a great environment that does not cost more than a gallon of gas.

What a joke it has been watching people flock to Starbucks to prove that by their presence they can afford such luxuries and look good standing in line.

Hate to be one of those boring, plain jane gals, but frankly, I'd rather suck coffee from a dirty shirt than pay $5 for something I can brew at home for nickels! Guess I am just not all that fashionable when it comes to caffeine.

Don't feel bad Starbucks (and others), I have the same attitude toward sodas also. Rockstar and all of those caffeine crap drinks can look for another sucker... not this gal...

Rob DeFrees

Am gobsmacked that folks woul pay so much for a 'cup of joe'. This old geezer remembers being able to get a brilliant cup for one dime, and that was with refills.

No fan of Starbucks, andyou should consider self lucky thatFresno is nt San Diego, saw them place 18 stores within waking distanc of each other and force shops like yours to close.
Talk about 'karma', Starbucks has been a bad neighbor to local coffee shops for ages and they are getting payback for it.

Mind, went to shop in Tower District for a cuppa and fell over at the price. And it was not a brilliant cuppa.

come across as hipster and elitist. I don't want to categorize the people that come to our shop though, that's why I say Fresno, and not any kind or type or group of people. To me it feels like drawing those kinds of lines is what divides our city to degree. One of the things I'm hoping for is to help raise a sense of community, and to help people feel a pride in their city. A negative view of downtown is one of the things we have to deal with and make efforts towards enlightening people of what is really here. Cafe Corazon is one of the places really here, and really making an effort to help bring a sense of pride to downtown(it is not the only place, but it is the place I know best). Not trying to be elitist as much as I am trying to show Fresno why it has reason to feel pride for having a place to go to that is locally owned and serves a superior product. I can go on...

Nothing against that chain and the reality is that places like ours owe a lot to them. Do I fear them opening shop down the way, yep....and nope.

Diablo

they needed to; granted the current economy probably made it more glaring, but they got to the point they were having 2 locations in the same shopping center. I know in Stockton, there were two right across the street from each other and one inside a target in the same parking lot.

Overkill much?

Now that Koffeeheads is gone, I guess SB can scale back on the geographic saturation here. I try to go local when I can, but Starbucks will do in a pinch. If we have to live with chains, I wish we'd get one more: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I always try to hit them up when I leave the Valley.

While I don't wish Starbucks any (serious) ill, I'm not going to shed a tear if their loss is independent coffeehouses' gain.

It's cool that there's a great coffee place that people seem to really dig downtown, and I appreciate that Diablo interacts in discussions about things other than Cafe Corazon (not pointing fingers, Jim Boswell), but the hipster elitism towards Starbucks is overdone.
I live near Sunnyside Country Club. To my knowledge, Starbucks is all we have out here, so I'm grateful for the chain success. I also like the coffee, and the people that work there (and the free coffee that I seem to keep scoring).
I know that if I go to another part of town--somewhere that may or may not have a locally-owned coffee shop that I'm aware of--I can find another Starbucks.

Thanks Josh. Sorry the website isn't up to par, add that to the long list of things we need to update.

Fresno IS learning about high quality and freshness. We're researching a new roaster to accommodate the demand.

New beans on the way!

Diablo