Starbucks

Yesterday during coffee, Gunnar and I got around to talking about Starbucks (even though there are no Starbucks here in Iceland). He had a particular opposition to Starbucks which I had never heard before and seemed particularly Icelandic; Starbucks supports the work of anti-whaling groups, who have been known to purposely damage Icelandic ships. When Americans express an opposition to Starbucks, it is usually because it manages, even though its coffee is more expensive in many cases, to beat out the competition in a neighborhood: people go there instead of to mom and pop coffee shops. I have gone back and forth on this issue myself. When I was in college, and ran a small coffee shop, I disliked Starbucks very much, thought its ubiquity was distasteful. But then one summer a few years later, I ended up taking a job at Starbucks, and found out how good the company is to its employees. They give them lots of training, are great about building a sense of camaraderie, offer opportunity for advancement, and provide health care benefits even to part time employees, plus the pay and tips are good. I also think a Starbucks breaths new life into a neighborhood; many people come by who never would have before, and people in the neighborhood have a new cozy place to meet friends and hang out. The biggest downside I have ever seen is the amount of traffic; there can be a traffic jam outside as people line up to grab a cup of joe and run (although I suppose that does not make the company unhappy). But even this is changing now with the recession. The company's opposition to whaling probably is not.