Starbucks - closing?

ryano · #1 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:28 PM

Jittery day for staff at Starbucks - Business - BrisbaneTimes

I know to some Starbucks is equal to swill - but not to me!!! Hopefully its all about nothing...

How will I survive without a venti double shot espresso frappuchino!

Comet · #2 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryano

Jittery day for staff at Starbucks - Business - BrisbaneTimes

I know to some Starbucks is equal to swill - but not to me!!! Hopefully its all about nothing...

How will I survive without a venti double shot espresso frappuchino!

Move to Melbourne where they serve real coffee

Ozracingwrap · #3 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:30 PM

Ryano I am with you on this, suspect though more likely a restructure with some store closures (certain stores trade very well) and sadly staff cuts.

given they closed 600 stores in the US it would seem highly unlikely the Australian Operations would escape untouched.

ryano · #4 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Comet

Move to Melbourne where they serve real coffee

I work on Park Rd in Milton, got plenty of coffee snobbery to choose from

fulltimecasual · #5 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:34 PM

Yay!

Bummer for the employees though.

cosmichobo · #6 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:34 PM

No personal stakes, as I only drink bubbly acidic cafeine drinks... but that could be pretty bad for a lot of workers... I'd assumed they were all franchises...

Not good for the film industry either... how many wannabe actors, directors, writers... pay their rents by pouring coffee til that big break through...

**decryption** · #7 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:39 PM

I quite like the white hot chocolate Starbucks do, as long as I put in 4 sugars

macaholic · #8 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:39 PM

Hmm, Starbucks aint that good, so wont be missed.

Of all these chain store coffee purveyors, Hudsons is the better one.

EDIT: Their Melbourne beginnings and ongoing business model is admirable: Hudsons Coffee Franchise

half goon half god · #9 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:48 PM

I don't mind Hudsons, but haven't been to one in ages. Gloria Jeans is good too, especially the one in Borders in Rundle Mall. I go in there every Sunday before work - it's quieter than the one next to The Muses, and is a good place to sit and read for a bit.

Everytime I go to Starbucks I emerge with a sub-par coffee and wonder why I went in there. There's just no flavour!

Taezar · #10 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:51 PM

I love Starbucks! Ok I love their drip coffee. Forget all the other stuff they put in, and just get a lovely cup of freshly brewed goodness. Venti was $3,20 I think - I used to buy one every morning. Now that I moved work, I don't have the chance to drink it. /sniff
On the plus side - I did win a cappachino machine at the Starbucks Christmas party

Abaddon · #11 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryano

I know to some Starbucks is equal to swill

HEY! There's no need to insult perfectly good swill.

Currawong · #12 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 03:09 PM

There was a big article on why Starbucks had gone to crap from focussing more on money and expansion than making good coffee. In Japan they just come across as a milkshake-coffee store now with a couple of comfy chairs and mostly awful ones.

mitty · #13 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 03:18 PM

Bad for the staff that work there, but they won't be missed in Melbourne. There's plenty of other great coffee places and it's just not needed here. Though they are good overseas as in some cases they are the only worthwhile place to get coffee

BLINDER · #14 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 03:46 PM

As far as I'm concerned may we be parted from any organisation who seeks to sell food via franchise.

stewiesno1 · #15 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 04:52 PM

My limited experience at tasting some of their coffees infrequently over two years leads me to wonder why they have lasted so long. When Starbucks arrived here in Oz they trumpeted long and loud that they were going to conquer the local market with their "superior" product. I am assuming they are basing this on American tastes which in my and some of my friends experience has been a not very impressive one. If you have ever been to the US and tasted the very average coffee there , you will know what I mean.
I don't think the execs at Starbucks took into account the ethnic background and influence of European cultures on Australia over the last two hundred years especially when it comes to superior coffee making.
I for one, will not miss Starbucks, should they decide to disappear.

Stewie

~~**silverdreamer**~~ · #16 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 05:13 PM

I like my Starbucks Hot Chocolate, and the girls& guys in Cavill look after me very well.

The stores they closed in the US where company stores, not franchise operations. As all of the Australian stores, as far as I know, are Franchised, i doubt there will be closures, restructuring is my guess.

nicwithsticks · #17 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 05:22 PM

God I hope so, their coffee is awful!

bennettnz · #18 (**permalink**) 29th July 2008, 05:29 PM

Outside of America people generally understand coffee to be a beverage of an entirely different nature to the one that americans recognise. This is not because americans are stupid or have bad taste but it's what they are sold on a national scale and have been for decades. My relatives (inlaws) from the states are always confused by the foam on a cappuccino but it's simply very unusual to them. Much like Vegemite tastes like the worst shit in the world to them - we descendants of Mother Britain may well think it's brilliant. Considering the somewhat incredible variety of crap americans spread on their toast it's kind of funny. Each to their own.