Starbucks Gossip

Moms group sets 'Skip Starbucks Saturday' boycott for August 24

A group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is trying to pressure Starbucks to change its current policy which allows customers to carry loaded guns into its stores in states where that's permitted.

The Moms are urging Starbucks customers to boycott the coffee giant this Saturday, August 24.

* "Skip Starbucks Saturday" boycott planned for August 24

La Boulange bakery goods come to Starbucks stores in Chicago

Time Out Chicago magazine taste-tested the goods on La Boulange's debut in the Windy City.

Here's what they said:

Reduced-Fat Pumpkin Cream Cheese Loaf Cake: “This is like the pumpkin spice latte in food form. There are a lot of baking spices in here."

Chocolate Croissant: "This isn’t bad! I wish it were flakier, but the chocolate adds some balance to the butter flavor."

Chewy Chocolate Meringue Cookie: "This is sticky. And not crispy. But the chocolate flavor is really pretty good."

Croissant: "It's very buttery and not very flaky."

Blueberry Yogurt Muffin with Honey "It's too spongy to be a good muffin. ...I don't think this will encourage people to get food here."

Chocolate Marble Loaf Cake: "This is terrible."

Ham & Cheese Croissant: "This is WAY too salty. ...The ham also has a weird flavor."

Wheat Spinach Croissant: "This tastes like Popeye puked."

* Taste-testing Starbucks' new La Boulange pastries in Chicago

* La Boulange items at SBUX: Your best and worst choices

Study: Starbucks in Boston provides a more welcoming environment than indie coffee shops

Anthropologists from the University of West Virginia went to Boston and observed what was going on a three different Starbucks stores and three locally owned independent coffee joints.

They focused on things like how social and welcoming a place is; the seating arrangement; amenities like power outlets and Wi-Fi; and overall atmosphere (music volume, volume of chatter, wall color, lighting, and décor.)

The Boston Globe reports:

The biggest surprise was that, on the whole, Starbucks actually provided a more welcoming environment than any of the three local coffee houses. ...The anthropologists also noted that the Starbucks baristas were friendlier to new customers than the bespoke hipsters behind the counter at the local places.

* Which place is friendlier, Starbucks or a local Boston coffee shop?

Starbucks can't get Google Wi-Fi in its stores fast enough!

Starbucks WiFi -- frustrating customers for years -- prompts daily tweets from people who can't take it anymore.

Every time I bring up this issue of super-slow Starbucks Wi-Fi, the SBUX Kool-Aid Drinkers counter with: You get what you pay for! It's free!

Yes, but if you're going to offer it and promote yourself a place that gives LEGENDARY SERVICE (like Starbucks does), try to do a little bit better than, say, McDonald's -- which has faster Wi-Fi than SBUX.

Here are some recent gripes (and believe me, there are many more on Twitter!):

Starbucks logic: Lets make millions out of customers, but lets give them slow WiFi. #yousneaky

— Juan Gutierrez (@juanchis13_08) August 13, 2013

Had a nice, relaxing, productive morning at Starbucks planned but the Wifi was too slow. And they gave me regular coffee instead of decaf :/

— Tiffany(AboutToRead) (@AboutToRead) August 11, 2013

slow wifi at @starbucks is the bane of my existence.

— Jacob (@whateverjacob) August 14, 2013

Things I learned today: 1. Starbucks wifi is miserably slow. 2. Raleigh is secretly a hipster city.

— Laura Seel (@LittleSeel) August 13, 2013

The free @starbucks wifi is awful and unreliable. Happy Google is stepping in. Next step, come to @StarbucksCanada https://t.co/UQfgw7LrkE

— wadekelly (@wadekelly) July 31, 2013

Hate this Starbucks! Great style, cool people....but come on...slow service, bad wifi!!! Get with it SBs!!! http://t.co/TzsZ757zoM

— Tim McCallum (@timmccallum) July 30, 2013

Starbucks wi fi is as good as having no wi fi

— Matt Fillbrook (@MattFillbrook) August 14, 2013

* Has the Google Wi-Fi been installed at any of your stores? Give us a report if it has!

Starbucks in Newtown closes early after pro-gun and gun-control advocates go at it

Friday was declared "Starbucks Appreciation Day" by gun advocates who urged others to take their guns to Starbucks and enjoy a coffee. The Starbucks in Newtown, Conn., where 26 people died in a school shooting last December, closed early to diffuse tensions between customers.

* Starbucks diffuses "Appreciation Day" controversy by closing early in Newtown

Gun owners plan to pack heat at Starbucks on Friday

Gun owners are planning to take their guns to Starbucks on Friday as part of an “I Love Guns and Coffee” campaign. They want to show their appreciation for Starbucks' policy that lets customers carry guns openly in states where that's legal.

“It’s a grassroots effort organized on Facebook,” said Jim Childers of Whidbey Arms, who is sorry that his closest Starbucks is 40 miles from his store.

* Friday is go armed to Starbucks day
* "I will be getting my caffeine fix for the day, with my Kimber sitting on my hip"

Human rights commission backs Starbucks in banning woman from store

Azadeh Azad went to a Victoria, B.C. Starbucks to write on her laptop every day. At one point she started taking her "daylight" lamp with her, which at least one customer found annoying. (The woman said the light helped alleviate her seasonal affective disorder.)

A shift supervisor told Azad to turn off the lamp because it was bothering people. The woman then went to every customer in the store and asked if they had a problem with her lamp.

“According to her, every customer (about 20 people) replied in the negative," the ruling commission said.

A news account reports:

Azad alleged the Starbucks employees fabricated the complaint in effort to be rid of her, and that she was the subject of derogatory comments, and overheard the store manager say one time, "in Canada, we don’t like terrorists.” The tribunal found no evidence of the discrimination.

Ah yes, the problems that we face when people think their favorite business is their second home.

* British Columbia woman loses bid to enjoy Starbucks once again

Good riddance, AT&T! Starbucks teams up with Google to offer super-fast Wi-Fi

Starbucks' Wi-Fi will be 10 times faster once the stores' networks are upgraded. Slow-as-syrup AT&T is out, and Level 3/Google is in.

Starbucks chief digital officer Adam Brotman finally got word that Starbucks offered the worst Wi-Fi on the planet and apparently made this partnership happen.

"Our goal is to continue to provide our customers with the best in-store experience possible," he says, "and we are excited to offer these kinds of unparalleled experiences at a broad scale.”

Better late than never, Adam!

* Starbucks teams up with Google to bring next-generation Wi-Fi to the coffee chain
* AT&T offered to improve its terrible Wi-Fi, but SBUX said forget it!
* Google: We'll start rolling out the new networks in August

* EARLIER: Starbucks and AT&T want you to have the worst Internet experience possible