An ode to Starbucks
I know that Starbucks is horrible mega-conglomerate super-evil gigantor-corporation, but I like it. Why?
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Good, strong coffee.
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Excellent aroma of good, strong coffee.
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Employees that are generally empowered to do the right thing (at least at my local store).
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Atmosphere. Whether they meant to or not, they’ve created places where people like to be. In planning (and other disciplines) there is a concept called “third places.” The urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg says, “Most needed are those ‘third places’ which lend a public balance to the increased privatization of home life. Third places are nothing more than informal public gathering places. The phrase ‘third places’ derives from considering our homes to be the ‘first’ places in our lives, and our work places the ‘second.’” Starbucks stores are great third places.
I think a hope many people have is that churches will once again be third places. But one of the challenges is that many, if not most, of our churches are geographically dispersed through the suburbs. While a lot of people are moving back to the urban core, I think you’ll still find most families in the suburbs. But there’s some cool stuff happening on the third place front in spite of those challenges. My friend Beth has a cool project starting in Portland called CrossBridges.
Anyway, I like Starbucks.