I live near Palm Beach, Florida(NEAR, not IN!!..thank God..) and the town of Palm Beach just approved for Starbucks to open on Worth Ave. Let me tell you, this was the BIGGEST freakin' deal..it was in all the papers..on all the local news channels. Apparently the loving town folks of PB didnt think Starbucks would attract the "right element". I figure everyones money is the same color green. I dont really frequent Starbucks too much, and when I was in NYC last July I actually made a concerted effort NOT to go there...I went to mom & pop places. I do think Starbucks makes an effort to be globally responsible thru their Fair Trade coffees,etc. but I try to brew espresso @ home now and I drink a lot of green tea also brewed @ home. Red is correct..it IS often a great place to meet someone for a quick chat w/o an obligation to spend $40.

I would much rather go out for coffee than drinks anymore to catch up with someone. Downtown Denver has no Mom & Pop's, so Starbucks is it.

All our neighborhoods have a Mom & Pop and I enjoy exploring those.

Besides being globally responsible, Starbucks is good to their employees, giving benefits even if you only work 20 hrs a week, which is great for a college kid

I'm from Canada and am wondering if Tim Hortons has opened in th US yet...wait until you try their coffee, you will be hooked!

We do have Tim Hortons in Michigan, not sure where else. But I am a starbucks fan, and the couple times I tried Tim Hortons, I was not impressed. It tasted like it was very old and had been sitting there all day.

I have only seen Tim Hortons in Michigan. Because it is a restaurant, my immediate visual was of a pot sitting on the coffee maker for hours. I have not tried it myself.

Tim Hortons usually has really good coffee, they're pretty huge in Canada...I like Starbucks too, but just their specilty coffees, i find their regular coffee pretty gross, but that's just me.

Okay, I've been drinking Starbucks in Seoul, hard to find anything better. I justify it by remembering that we have Starbucks shares.

I'm coming over to NYC next week, and one of the things that always gets me is finding a "restroom" (as you guys call it) - I'm ok if I'm around Times Sq as I go into the one in Virgin!
I've also gone into a Starbucks and bought a coffee so I can use the restroom - sort of defeats the object though as after a coffee you want the restroom again within a hour!!!
So reading this thread - am I right in thinking you are ok to use the restroom in Starbucks without buying anything?

I do all the time.
also, try barnes and noble or any other bookstores.
if you are downtown, crate and barrel on broadway and houston has a good bathroom upstairs.

Thanks...that's worth knowing.

Reminds me of a few years ago when an American friend came over from Chicago and we met up in London.

She wanted the toilet (restroom) and I was wondering where we could go, then she saw a restaurant, which wasn't open for business but door was open for deliveries etc, and she just walked straight in and used their facilities! I was astounded, it's just not the "done thing" here, she did the same with McDonalds using their toilets but not buying anything.

OOOUch how can that possible happen...read on.



[www.observer.com]

I rarely drink coffee.

Our office has had a Starbucks machine for about a year. We did a taste test with Keurig recently. For those who voted on which they preferred, it was 7 for Starbucks, and 23 for Keurig. Both machines make coffee 1 cup at a time. Starbucks leaves the office on the 15th. Keurig is not enviromentally a good choice though. Each cup takes a plastic container filled with one serving of coffee or chocolate.