I want to spend my coffee dollars at places that help communities. Through store closures, union busting and reduced seating, Starbucks has abandoned customers like me.
I’ve always had an ambivalent relationship with Starbucks. But especially post-pandemic, the java juggernaut has become my coffee shop of last resort. And I’m not alone — U.S. sales in the latest quarter were down 6% compared with a year earlier. The company’s new chief executive recently sketched out a rescue plan that includes eliminating upcharges for nondairy milk, simplifying menu options to speed up orders and a return to writing customers’ names on cups.
As a professor, I enjoy the solitude and autonomy that comes with my job, but even I get sick of myself, and walking to my favorite local coffee shops helps ward off the creep of afternoon depression. Starbucks’ profit-maximizing strategies abandoned customers like me long ago. A wave of store closures in the Bay Area, where I live, dislodged any remaining shred of brand loyalty. Many that remained removed significant portions of their seating or eliminated it altogether.
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