starbucks jumps the shark

You know the idea of 'jumping the shark' - the precise moment when a TV show passes it's peak and starts the inexorable slide to rubbishdom.

I think Starbucks has jumped the shark in the UK.

This is the Starbucks in Leicester Square in London. It's a huge place, almost underground, not a lot of natural light. Tons of tourists and it's got this crowd-control-type barrier to direct you where to queue. That to me is an indication that Starbucks has forgotten what its selling. Which Howard Schultz always used to say was something to do with ambience and quality. This kind of barrier says 'Post Office' or 'DMV' to me, not ambience and quality.

This is exacerbated by the fact that employees staff in the UK know nothing of the Starbucks 'traditions' (I don't know what else to call them). But you know that way that Starbucks people think they're a little better than ordinary service employees, they're barristas, they're special. (even to the extent that they get all hoighty-toighty with you). That's part of the Starbucks experience in the US, and you don't get it here. No-one here knows much about Starbucks, they all think they're just working at MacDonalds.

This is going to be a problem for Starbucks.

Comments

[Ed Cotton]

This thing is going around the web- Ikea as a video game- it comes loaded with realism

From The Morning News blog

http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/how_to/the_nonexpert_ikea.php

Ed

[russell]

i like this IKEA thing a lot. thanks for throwing it in. brands are such great things to play with. they spend so much time defining precisely what they are that it's excellent sport to take it all apart again. if only they were a little more relaxed.