The Sweet, Rich Aroma of Hell

If you'd been with me from the beginning of my blogging days, back when I wrote Neko's Rainy Day, you might have read my rant about Starbucks. As I recall, I was proud of it; the way it was worded, the accuracy of my expression. The gist of the post went like this, "Starbucks is evil. I hate all of the people who I pass in the window, looking out as if they're better than everyone else." Later, I ended up eating my words after becoming addicted to the coffee chain's "Gingerbread Latte" at Christmas time.

Flash forward to the recent past. I found myself drinking Starbucks' coffee almost daily at my last job. So much so, that I bought myself a coffee pot for my desk and starting grinding my own coffee so as to avoid the $5 cup. Then, I decided to switch to tea, so I sold my coffee pot. Then, I started drinking a co-worker's brew and eventually, went back to the evil empire. When I left the job a couple of weeks ago, I was given a gift card for Starbucks.

As a greeting, when I began my current job, I was given another gift card for Starbucks. So, needless to say, I've been there every morning for several days in a row, cashing in my gift cards. Now they're cashed out. Today, I decided that, since I could no longer get free coffee, that I'd try and support another coffee vendor. I walked to another shop called Sugar Beat that I remembered was pretty cool. But, when I got there....it was closed! Not "closed" as in "we'll be back later", but closed as is "for lease"! I'd always remembered them being pretty busy. They had sandwiches and other snacks at lunchtime and the line was always a long one. That sucks.

Since The Sugar Beat was no more, I thought I'd revisit another shop not much further away. The name of this one was Maui Wowi and it had a Hawaiian theme. Their drinks were unique and tasty, but they didn't have much in the way of food. On the way to Maui Wowi, I was lamenting that all the small coffee shops around are disappearing. Was it because of Starbucks? I'd always heard about how the monster sized chain was pushing out independent business, but then again, I'd also always seen plenty of coffee shops around. In fact, until Starbucks, it hadn't seemed that people were really drinking coffee outside of the home and 7-11. It occurred to me that Starbucks may have even created a market for their competition.

As these thoughts swam through my early morning, pre-coffee brain, I thought the words, "If Maui Wowi is gone too, I'm really going to freak out." When I saw the "Open" sign dimmed and started to panic, but then I realized that it was Quiznos' window I'd been looking at. Right next door should be.....what?.....Maui Wowi is gone!!! That's right. Another small coffee shop disappeared. Thank god Daz Bog Coffee is still around (and that they have a very cute cashier).

So, I think I've resolved to never again drink Starbucks if there's anything else remotely close by. Instead of being angry at the company, it's really the consumer's fault. After all, when you own a business, generally the object is to make money. A successful business will make money any way it knows how (hopefully in legitimate ways). So, you can't blame Starbucks for making money. But the dawning realization that struck me this morning is - as a consumer, it's important to support independent coffee if you'd still like a choice as to where you get your coffee from.