Most people who really enjoy coffee agree that Starbuck’s has nasty, over-roasted and over-priced coffee. They sell a lifestyle and nearly everyone you know is buying. Hell, even you dear reader, are buying. I too admit to falling prey to the comforting green glow.
The problem is that the neighborhood coffee shop is being pushed out and with it, some part of community. The neighborhood coffe shop – like the neighborhood bar and, in my opinion, the neighborhood laundromat – help define a neighborhood. Starbucks doesn’t care about your neighborhood.
This site, the Starbucks Delocator, serves to help you find local coffe shops by zipcode. Odd, you say, that the words “Starbucks Delocator” don’t appear on the site? Fear of lawsuits prevented the San Francisco Art Institute from using that name. So here’s my part in Carrie McLaren’s Google campaign to get the name mentioned in as many places on the ‘net as possible, so that the Starbucks Delocator will come up in Google’s search results when you type the word “Starbucks.”
Go on over to the Starbucks Delocator and search for cafés in the zip code “45245” to see what I’m talking about. One café, 10 Starbucks. Ugh.