Austrians aren't falling in love with Starbucks (aka "the U.S. paper-cup store")

Starbucks said three years ago it would have 60 locations in Austria by 2005. But the coffee giant will go into the new year with just eight stores, most of them in and around Vienna. This report says: "For some Vienna cafe partisans, the American chain symbolizes the insidious creep of globalization. The traditional coffeehouse, in this view, stands as a noble bulwark against the uniformity brought on by mass culture." (Los Angeles Times)

Comments

[bionic barista]

my boyfriend's parents are austrian and they hate starbucks. Maybe it's just a country thing.

[GGDeluxe]

Are you kidding? There are more and better coffee houses in Vienna and Budapest than in the whole of the TriState area. Its a tradition there.