I don't hate Starbucks ~ I've always preferred strong-ish dark roast coffee, anyway ~ but I do dislike their high prices and especially their pretentious size-names. Their seating is very comfortable, though, and the atmosphere sure beats McDonald's. And they get points for providing health coverage to part-timers.

My greatest objection is that there are just too damn many of them.. Ever been to Manhattan during the current Starbucks Era? It's not much of an exaggeration to say there's a SB "on every corner." I swear there are places where you can see three or even four Starbucks outlets from a single vantage point! Ridiculous!!

With all the poverty around us, I'm taken aback to think of so many members of the clueless and overprivileged class spending $50/week or more on mediocre coffee and the convenience of having someone else make it for 'em

Here in New Orleans, we had several well-established independant coffee-outlet chains before Starbucks ever showed up. The indies have remained competitive, but Starbucks has found a niche since coming to town. After Katrina, I was pleased to notice that Starbucks decided not to reopen a couple of their flooded properties ~ but then, more recently, I saw that they opened a new shop at a site that had previously housed an independent competitor that had gone out of business. So the competition remains balanced.