[mindcrime]

When you get a coffee-based drink at Starbucks, you can get that same exact drink anywhere on the planet at Starbucks and it will be nearly the same.

And that factor is important to many people. Maybe surprisingly so to people who don't get that particular aspect. Example: a few years ago I was a consultant for a while, and I traveled a lot for work. Lots of time on airplanes and in airports and a lot of dragging myself off of airplanes late at night, jonesing for a cup of coffee, or dragging myself into the airport late, jonesing for coffee. And then exploring a new city on the first day, after dragging myself out of bed, jonesing for a cup of coffee. In all three cases, I knew that if I saw a Starbucks I could walk in and have a perfectly predictable experience.

And on those occasions that was exactly what I wanted. I didn't care about finding the "best cup of coffee in Portland" or "the best coffee shop in Chicago", etc. And I didn't have time to run around sampling all these little boutique places, hoping for some spiritual / transcendent experience.

Sure, the hardcore coffee snobs are gritting their teeth right now, and that's OK. What I want from a coffee shop (at times) and what you want are two different things. And that's OK.

That's not to say that there isn't a place for wandering around, exploring all the unique local coffee shops in whatever town/city you happen to be in. The point is just that the ubiquity and predictability of Starbucks is objectively a Good Thing to a certain group of people.