by Suzanne Fort

Created on: July 09, 2008   Last Updated: July 18, 2008

Starbucks is running low on bucks and 600 stores are to close. To me, I don't see what the big deal is. In the small town I live in there are several Starbucks. They have Starbucks in every Safeway, a Starbucks in the Top Foods, and a Starbucks at the Fred Meyers. They have several other Starbucks that are by themselves. I can't stand in one spot in my small town and not see a Starbucks building nearby. If they took out half of the Starbucks in my town, we'd all live. I'd rather see individuals have a small coffee stand and have it thrive rather than have Starbucks build and build and build.

Starbucks has always been expensive. Yes, the coffee is great, but they are very expensive in coffee standards. They have the pastries and they are expensive too. There is always at least two people working in the Safeway locations, three in the Fred Meyers location, two in the Top Food location, and many in the independent Starbucks locations. If Starbucks could cut down on a few workers, they could lower the cost, which would lead to more business. I don't know what you think, but I'm so sick of hearing about the fuel prices. But, it is true, when gas goes up, who wants to blow five bucks on a drink of coffee? Lower the workers, lower the price, and increase the sales.

If you're trying to watch your figure, Starbucks is not the place to go. Even the nonfat milk drinks are way more calories than you'd eat with a regular meal. The pastries are bad too, but the drinks are not good. Some people go there once or twice a day and those calories sure do add up. It's not the best thing when in America we are so obese as a country. One funny fact is that you can't find the calories of the pastries online. You will only find the calories for the drinks. You can ask the stores what the calories are and they usually will just hang up on you. The stores don't know or they don't want you to know, but either way, watch out for the pastries that they don't post any nutritional information for. It's a pretty scary thought.

Starbucks is a nice place to sit and talk with friends. It's usually quiet and the temperature is just right. The lighting is usually just right for a relaxing break. If you plan on using your wireless internet there, beware. They charge for that too.

One thing I have recently noticed is that they keep changing the menu. I used to have the raspberry scone. It had the best jam in the middle. I would go to Starbucks to have that raspberry scone rather than the local coffee stand. They discontinued it. I stopped going there for a while until they had the cranberry raspberry scone. They stopped that so I stopped going again. Then,they recently had the thumb print raspberry scone. They have taken that off now too. If they want to keep more stores open, they need to keep consisistent items on the menu.

In conclusion, when you think about the price of the drinks and pastries, the calories of the drinks and pastries, and the huge number of Starbucks all around the country, we'd be okay with 600 locations of Starbucks closing. Starbucks got a little greedy in their pricing and are going to have to pay the price now that other things are getting more expensive. Who wants to pay so much for high calorie drinks and pastries? Not me.

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