Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
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Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
1–10 of 14 posts
Re: Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
#2That's weird, I was just thinking this about Starbucks the other day. It wasn't started with the thought, "We are going to be the largest coffee business in the world!" It was more likely started with the thought, "Americans drink shit coffee, I want to show them what good coffee tastes like." It really is difficult to know which ideas will gain critical mass to become world-changers.
Re: Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
#3I walk past this Starbucks nearly every day going to and from work. Too bad it's always a madhouse of tourists.
Re: Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
#4Summary: the jouney of a thousand miles starts with a single step!
Re: Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
#5Well technically, the actual first Starbucks store doesn't exist anymore.
The location was at the corner of Virginia and Pike Place, where this first-ever Starbucks was in business until January of 1977, when it moved to its current "original" store one block south. The current store in the Market is actually the sixth one, since there were stores in University Village, Capitol Hill, Edmonds, and Bellevue, along with the original-original, before the present Market Starbucks opened.
Re: Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
#6Unfortunately, the story behind Starbucks is a bit more complicated than it seems from this -- the original Starbucks was a humble enterprise.
The Starbucks that launched wasn't really intended to be a coffeehouse, so much as a local boutique bean retailer. The grandiose plans for world domination didn't form until Howard Schultz took over, years later. By then, the founders were long gone. That's not meant to take away from the whole "humble beginning" motif, but the Starbucks story is more realistically told as that of a savvy businessman buying a moderately successful local business from his former bosses, and making the brand much bigger than the founders could manage.
Re: Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
#7This article should also note Starbucks is experimenting with moving back towards "local" coffee houses[1]. I'm sure someone who currently lives in Seattle can give more information on how well this process is being received (instead of my own knowledge, which is that of someone who used to live in Seattle and follows local issues still), but I have a very low opinion of the strategy. I would prefer my local coffeeshop to be local, not appear local but fund a company that probably doesn't care what happens in the neighbourhood.
[1]: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009479123_s...
Re: Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
#8Unfortunately, the story behind Starbucks is a bit more complicated than it seems from this -- the original Starbucks was a humble enterprise. The Starbucks that launched wasn't really intended to be a coffeehouse, so much as a local boutique bean retailer. The grandiose plans for world domination didn't form until Howard Schultz took over, years later. By then, the founders were long gone. That's not meant to take a…
Like McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and QDOS (Microsoft), the real riches came when a savvy businessman took an entrepreneurial effort and scaled it into a latent market. Unfortunate for those of us who like the cultural minutia of "local" business, but important to remember when building your startup.
Re: Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
#9and it's a big tourist trap now, usually with a line out the door on sunny days. weird. folks, it's just coffee!
Re: Humble Beginnings - The First Starbucks Store
#10This article should also note Starbucks is experimenting with moving back towards "local" coffee houses[1]. I'm sure someone who currently lives in Seattle can give more information on how well this process is being received (instead of my own knowledge, which is that of someone who used to live in Seattle and follows local issues still), but I have a very low opinion of the strategy. I would prefer my local coffeesh…
I read this move as meaning that the corporate Starbucks stores are all alike, and therefore in high-density areas where there is actually competition, people will naturally gravitate toward a "local" option with a more unique and "local" feeling inside. I agree with this opinion, and the move is a good one for the company. Even though these new "local" Starbucks are still highly regulated "corporate" creations.