11 Starbucks Close in Houston

According to the Houston Chronicle, Starbucks will be closing 11 stores in the Houston area. Even with the closings, there will still be plenty of Starbucks to fulfill any caffeine jones you might be having. For a while, Starbucks were outpacing corner liquor stores for real estate here in Houston. The fact that this has happened should come as no surprise. In recent months, chinks in the coffee behemoth's armor have become apparent. One of the first inklings that there was a problem was their introduction of their new brew called "Pike's Place Blend".

Starbucks touted the new blend as a real cup of coffee. When I go to Starbucks, I'm not expecting a regular old cup of anything. For better or worse, when I go to Starbucks, I'm looking for the whole exotic coffee from foreign lands shtick and that's what I want.

In addition to the introduction of this new blend and in keeping with Starbucks penchant to subscribe to the, 'everything old is new again', philosophy, they have redesigned their logo. They have replaced the green circle that we've all come to know and love with the companies' original logo; a bare breasted mermaid with splayed flippers. This semi nudity has quite a few people up in arms. I am far more concerned at people who would be this upset over an innocuous cup when there's more sexual innuendo on Saturday morning television. I don't have a problem with the cup because of the nudity, I have problem with it because it's not appealing. There must have been some reason they changed it in the first place.

As a testament to the ubiquitous nature of the Starbucks brand, they have been able to open and operate thriving concerns in economically depressed areas. Luckily, neither of these stores, in Houston, is on the closure list at present and they seem to be doing quite well, in spite of current economic conditions.