Starbucks recedes; local shops rejoice

Here is an interesting story. It seems that in a slowing economy where gas costs more than $4 a gallon, luxuriously over-priced cups of non-essential stimulants are one of the first cuts we make in our family budgets. I find it interesting that we were willing to pay so much more for coffee than for gas, considering we could make our own coffee (even buy our own paper-cups) for far less.

For many, Starbucks is a symbol of contemporary pop-culture (at least the culture of white professionals) and a place of comfort in the midst of a fast-paced world. For others it is the evil empire that has, in only a few years, driven vast numbers of quirky and beloved independent coffee shops to their graves. So the annoucement that Starbucks is closing hundreds of stores will no doubt recieve mixed reactions. Perhaps they had more than really made sense in someplaces any ways.

So what do you think? Is Starbucks' decline a personal and national tragedy, or a great moment of hope for the coffee-shop world? Or neither?

I can tell you that when I took the above picture in Oxford (UK), I thought "It's the end of Western Civilization!" But as I reflected later...I suppose it's possible that the space would have otherwise been vacant (though I don't remember seeing a single vacant storefront while there, so I doubt it).