With Starbucks set to open in India this summer, it's been interesting thinking about what their strategy might be in building the market there (where, currently, coffee places don't even open until 10:30am, and the up-scale ones serve hookahs and thai food).
After the last few weeks of being back in New York, one thing is clear: Starbucks doesn't sell coffee. But despite what its baristas are trained to have us believe, Starbucks doesn't sell "community" either.
Starbucks sells office space.
At least in Manhattan. Case in point: the Starbucks on 9th and 15th in the Meatpacking District, pictured below. It's small, like all pieces of prime Manhattan real estate. There's one long table, with multiple outlets distributed below. Along the windows are small work station desks, meant just for one person and their computer (note: the photo below might also be an Apple commercial, with every piece of equipment being either a MacBook, iPad, or iPhone).
Perhaps more for opportunism than anything strategic, I'm sure a sub-theme of our upcoming road trip will be Starbucks (and I even got an iPhone app to support this). Let's see what Starbucks sells across the great American highway, 'cause I'm sure it ain't coffee. Internet for sure. A respite from driving. And maybe a comfortable chair, some good 'ole patriotism, and a reminder of home -- wherever home happens to be.
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