[FridgeSeal]

In what market?

They've seriously struggled in Australia-there's a few stores here and there-mostly confined to large shopping centres, but they're not popular and I believe they were down to single-digit number of stores a few years ago.

[blaser-waffle]

When I lived in Melbourne I was blown away by the coffee culture there. They took it damn seriously, and the local places were amazing. Even the random dudes in vans with an expresso machine in the back that were parked outside of parks/venues/busy areas were slinging primo stuff.

Hands-down best coffee I had in the Oz, though, was in Perth (Northbridge area). There was a tiny hole in the wall coffee shop next to a spice market that was amazing.

If the rest of the Oz is like either of those 2 locales, I can see why S-bux would fail.

[dwd]

You would be hard pressed to find a coffee shop brewing worse coffee than Starbucks in Australia. From your local Gloria Jean or Coffee Club to ones with competition awarded baristas.

But Starbucks has its place. I stopped at a few in Japan to give the family a chance to sit down and not feel rushed to keep moving. You can charge your phone or your laptop and relax.

[wprapido]

They failed miserably in Israel. Opened recently in Italy and cater almost exclusively to tourists. The only place with good coffee where they are doing okayish that I'm aware of is Sweden. They also do rather well in Turkey among hipsters, tourists and rich local college kids. Yet, it's limited to Istanbul

[Max10101]

Starbucks is not limited to İstanbul, they are in every major metro. I've been in Starbucks in İzmir, Ankara, and Kayseri, and I try to avoid Starbucks. And if crowds are any thing to go by, they are doing quite well for a very expensive place in a land of endless tea and coffee shops.

[wprapido]

It's amazing, given how great Turkish coffee and tea is. Yet, Starbucks' core business is not serving good coffee