Schadenfreude Surrounds Starbuck's

(MoneyWatch)  Let's say it's, oh, 1988. Down the street from your office, a new coffee shop opens up. It's called Starbuck's. The brew is expensive. You give it a try. Good stuff. Compared to the swill you're used to drinking in the break room, the gas station, the convenience store, and most restaurants, it's really good stuff.

You would say this whether or not you considered yourself a coffee connoisseur. In 1988, it was hard to find a truly great cup of coffee. Starbucks was about as good as it got for most people.

But as the years passed, a coffee culture grew up, thanks in large part to the proliferation of Starbuck's outlets. As Starbuck's spread, lots of other shops opened their doors, often serving coffee that was much better than Starbuck's was. And often, a Starbuck's would open nearby, taking business from the coffee shop (or "coffeehouse") that was there in the first place largely because Starbuck's introduced much of America to quality coffee. And then the independent would have to shut down, because of competition from Starbuck's. Irony.

And as the years passed, hatred of Starbuck's grew and grew. This happened mostly in cities where those independents were opened, and then forced out of business. The same cities that make it near-impossible for a Wal-Mart to open its doors. It's not just the effect of giant chains on "mom and pop" businesses that's at issue. No, this is a cultural phenomenon. People live in big cities in large part because they are looking for a unique culture. They (ok, we), don't like it when everything looks the same. We want to live in places that have their own character. We don't like monoculture. (In small towns and exurbs, Starbuck's is still a godsend.)

And now that Starbuck's is having trouble, a lot of the people who hate the chain are reveling in their schadenfreude. Many of them complain that Starbuck's over-roasts its beans, which is generally true, even though the coffee is still usually pretty good. But that's a side-issue, really. It's the proliferation people don't like. If they had to admit that the coffee was at least acceptable (which it usually is), it wouldn't hew to what is, in the end, an ideology.

It's very much the same as the people on either side of the Apple/Windows divide. How often do you hear an Apple fan admit that even one small aspect of Windows deserves praise? Almost never. For people like this, there can't be anything good about Starbuck's.