Starbucks,

i like Starbucks, it is a good enviroment for me to study in teh afternoons, mostly because I don't stay well awake in the afternoons trying to study. I usually am so exhausted that if I try to study in the library after lunch I fall asleep. The morning is different, I do well in the library in the morning, but as the day goes on my mind wonders and is harder to keep on tract.

I was reading a book for my world evangelism class, the book is written by a guy called Heibert, who is an anthropologist. It is neat because he uses a lot of anthropological catagories. It was also really neat to be reading about these catagories while sitting in starbucks.

At this point I don't know if Starbucks is a coffee shop in the same sense as to what coffee shops were before Starbucks. I think Starbucks is Starbucks and coffee shops are coffee shops. I am also working from a very personal definition of what a coffee shop is. two years ago I loved this place in Midtown called the Republic. I love it no more because it is no more, the shop had pool tables art on teh walls which gave it this really cool atmosphere. Currently there is a place I go to like that in downtown Memphis called Qetzal. The thing is neither are Starbucks and Starbucks is like neither.

There are a few things Starbucks does well:
its not linear, there isn't as much consistancy within itself, the pictures are simple but very inconsistant
It has a small amout of area, people will cram themselves into tiny areas around tiny tables and feel completely at home to discuss very personal subjects, the noise of the people around actually drown out the conversations around them.
Drive throughs, I think these are very important drive throughs are where the rubber meets the road they can move a high volume of product without people having to take up space. People can then stop for coffee without stopping for coffee so they are not relegated to the coffee that has been on the warmer all day at Wendy's they can get their Grande half caff low fat vanilla latte.

Because of the lack of space people who want to hang out get very territorial when they come in, to get a table at Starbucks, one needs a marker. A marker can be a bag, a book, or a coat. Once this is put on the table, the table itself becomes taken. And most decent people will respect that.
I have never seen someone disregard a marker in Starbucks but I think it would be awesome to watch.

Starbucks is also a place where mulit generation white middle class and higher people all feel comfortable. There is no generational gap at Starbucks, from 15-70 people are comfortable sitting at a table no more than two feet away from another table. And most people at Starbucks tend to be respectful with regard to space, they take their allotted space if that is all they have and when more space is avalable will move their things if the space is needed for someone else.

Non-Starbucks coffee shops work with a different philosphy, Acedemics, Hippies, Musicians. Most of them are College age to early 30's. Starbucks generally has about four comfortable chairs, these places will be mostly old couches with sheets over them and other chairs of the coushined type. There are often bands playing and the walls are covered with complicated art work. There is generally more space created with a different feel. The Republic often had art on the walls by local costomers and Qetzel (as you might could tell from the name) sells South American clothing. They also roast all their own coffee on site. There used to be a place in Memphis called the Ugly Mug. That was a neet place because it was owned and operated by a church and all the workers were volunteer, it was considered a haven type ministry so cost was very low. But I also must note, that the Ugly Mug and the Republic are no longer around, they didn't make it.

I think High Point on Poplar and Perkins makes it because it has a drive through and funtions as a cheap Starbucks (not to be confused with the Christian High Point Coffee people).

I don't mind Starbucks though I am by no means a coffee shop purist, whatever serve the local coffee community best, but I would encourage people to look into coffee shops of the non-Starbucks variety, it is a different experience, and it is a different coffee.

I also wonder about this, why is there no Starbucks in North Memphis, Raleigh, Frayser. I have my opinions, what do you think?