Login / Register
go to mobile version »

Our Sponsors:

READ MORE »

Our Members

Many thanks to

Wier Harman

and

Susan Jones

some of our many supporters.

ALL MEMBERS »

Starbucks

Crosscut most recent

Madison Park: If fences make good neighbors, what happens when you take one down?

Posted Mon, Nov 14, 2 a.m.

The affluent Seattle neighborhood is embroiled in a controversy over whether to remove a chain-link barrier on the lake shore in a public park.

READ MORE 17 COMMENTS

How arts and music helped pull Seattle through hard times

Posted Tue, Oct 25, 2 a.m.

When Congress cancelled the SST, plunging the local economy downward, the city turned to new ways to lift its spirits and spur its economy. The arts, especially rock and roll, were a key part of the rebound.

READ MORE 4 COMMENTS

The Cascadia conundrum: Balkanized transportation

Posted Tue, Oct 4, 2 a.m.

Puget Sound is a poster child for the problems of regional transportation planning. One big roadblock: long-standing distrust of Seattle.

READ MORE 10 COMMENTS

Seattle joins the parade for mandatory sick leave

Posted Mon, Sep 12, 8:46 p.m.

The issue is fast becoming a national workers' rights crusade. Here's a survey of how the movement is going in other cities, and the arguments for and against the requirements.

READ MORE 5 COMMENTS

Starbucks Nation

Posted Tue, Sep 6, 2 a.m.

Howard Schultz's secret plan for making America great once again.

READ MORE 2 COMMENTS

The Coffee Party, local chapter

Posted Thu, Aug 25, noon

Howard Schultz of Starbucks is trying to start a national reform movement to get some big solutions to our big impasses. Here are some suggestions for translating these ideas to our state.

READ MORE 5 COMMENTS

The REAL first Starbucks

Posted Wed, Mar 9, 7:52 a.m.

This month is the 40th anniversary of Starbucks. In this reprinted story, our author well remembers the first Starbucks store and the first day of business, March 30, 1971, since he happens to have been the very first customer.

READ MORE 25 COMMENTS

Starbucks new logo: hold the coffee

Posted Thu, Jan 6, 2 a.m.

There's a still a mermaid, but the company name and the chief product have walked the gang plank.

READ MORE 6 COMMENTS

So you like Texas better than Washington?

Posted Tue, Oct 26, 2 a.m.

Well, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Washington state is about more than taxes, profits, and coddling a monied "creative class."

READ MORE 36 COMMENTS

All-hours bars, more guns: back to Seattle's future?

Posted Thu, Jul 1, 2 a.m.

Sometimes, we humans forget the past. Maybe Seattle will get a refresher on its Wild West past, when saloons ran 24 hours a day and manly men wore six-shooters.

READ MORE 5 COMMENTS

How to fill the hole in Pioneer Square's heart?

Posted Thu, Apr 29, 2 a.m.

Elliott Bay Book Co. has moved, but the historic space it vacated is waiting for a new tenant with bright ideas. Adaptability and inspiration have kept Pioneer Square, and the Globe Building, going for over a century.

READ MORE 10 COMMENTS

The right to bear arms with your latte

Posted Mon, Mar 22, 2 a.m.

In Washington, you can carry a gun openly, unless you intend to alarm or harm people. But with gun rights advocates testing Starbucks and the law, what you legally do is still a bit fuzzy and subjective.

READ MORE 9 COMMENTS

The Seattle brand

Posted Sun, Dec 6, 12:53 p.m.

Seattle is famous for its global impact (think jets, coffee, software), but our success is about savvy salesmanship rather than smart invention.

READ MORE 7 COMMENTS

The Great Vancouver vs. Seattle Debate

Posted Mon, Jun 22, 6 a.m.

Is the civic grass greener on the other side of the border? Two urban experts each make the case for the others' home town.

READ MORE 20 COMMENTS

Starbucks has a G.M. moment

Posted Mon, Jun 8, 6 a.m.

Judging by its latest ad campaign, Starbucks is losing touch with its customers, just as G.M. did. So here's a suggestion to turn the coffee giant around.

READ MORE 7 COMMENTS

The Cascadian Dream

Posted Thu, Apr 9, 6 a.m.

Can a Pacific Northwest utopia be shaped on the shared belief that nature is sacred? This latest installment in a series on regional identity looks at the patron saint of the environmental movement, John Muir, and how his thinking informs the desire for a new, greener, and elusive entity some call Cascadia.

READ MORE 8 COMMENTS

Getting the jitters

Posted Sat, Jul 5, 6 a.m.

Starbucks' "third place" concept is under pressure from laptops, McDonald's, and a decline in snob appeal.

READ MORE 5 COMMENTS

A week of weakonomics

Posted Wed, Jun 25, 9 a.m.

If you look away from the Sonics trial for a moment, you can see warning signs that the seemingly immune local economy is actually pretty precarious.

READ MORE 2 COMMENTS

A city of scolds

Posted Thu, May 8, 4 p.m.

Seattle City Hall has cracked down on drinking and clubs, it's on the verge of banning fast food and taxing plastic grocery bags, and now even plastic-bottled water is a civic sin. Switch to tap water! says the mayor. Mossback thinks enough is enough.

READ MORE 23 COMMENTS

What made the Seattle style of business a success

Posted Thu, Apr 24, 2 p.m.

As civic icons like Safeco drift away from their Puget Sound roots, here's a look at the components of a Seattle way of doing business that built up such brands. The key was motivated employees. The poison was rapid growth.

READ MORE COMMENT NOW

Starbucks Blog posts

Midday Scan: Wednesday's top stories around the region

Posted Wed, Oct 5, 11 a.m. 2011

In the news: Everett's last working mill finds a fairy godmother; an unknown Congressional candidate flexes his popular muscle; Howard Schultz faces criticism for not walking the walk; the AP is still questioning Amanda Knox's antics; and Seattle's Catholic pet-owners turn out for iguana blessings.

MORE

Midday Scan: Friday's top stories around the region

Posted Fri, Sep 2, 11 a.m. 2011

Passing of eras in Everett and Portland; McKenna gets a lesson from the Supreme Court; Tim Burgess wants to save Seattle's downtown, while Howard Schultz may want to save the country.

MORE

The local brands we love the most

Posted Tue, Aug 23, 6:46 a.m. 2011

Online voting shows last year's winner, REI, has been toppled. And maybe Howard Schultz's turnaround of Starbucks needs to pay more attention to Seattle voters?

MORE

The Starbucks siren and her many costume changes

Posted Tue, Jul 6, 2 a.m. 2010

In the past few weeks alone, we've seen five new style moves by the ever-popular hometown brand.

MORE

Starbucks should stand up to gun-toting bullies

Posted Fri, Mar 5, 7:31 a.m. 2010

Would the coffeehouse serve customers wearing nothing but their underwear? That's legal too.

MORE

The Nike Industrial Complex

Posted Fri, Dec 18, 12:09 p.m. 2009

The U.W. gets further connections to Nike, with a new regent appointment. So maybe Provost Phyllis Wise doesn't need to be on the Nike board now?

MORE

Starbucks' midlife crisis

Posted Fri, Jul 17, noon 2009

On Seattle's Capitol Hill, the coffee company is ditching its brand for a hipper, indie-friendly make-over.

MORE

Starbucks is the new garage

Posted Tue, May 19, 6 a.m. 2009

In re-building the brand, the coffee company could find opportunity with the Great Recession's diaspora.

MORE

Vancouver has Starbucks withdrawal pains

Posted Tue, Apr 21, 6 a.m. 2009

The grieving B.C. city needs to recall how it inspired Starbucks in the first place, with a little help from Berkeley

MORE

River of coffee?

Posted Thu, Apr 2, 2 p.m. 2009

A Washington place name proposal that could make a mark in latte land.

MORE

Clicker

With Starbucks, same-sex marriage goes corporate Frank Bruni writes, "If you’re among the fair-minded Americans who believe that two men or two women should be able to wed, there’s an easy though slightly caloric way to express that. Get a caramel macchiato. Maybe make it a venti. Then get another tomorrow."

NEW YORK TIMES | COMMENT NOW

Northwest pastor demands a Starbucks boycott over gay marriage MSNBC reports, "A Christian pastor is calling for a nationwide boycott of Starbucks for the company's support of same-sex marriage in Washington."

More beer and wine at Starbucks Reuters reports, "The world's biggest coffee chain plans to sell beer and wine in as many as 12 cafes in Atlanta and Southern California by the end of the year, as it expands beyond its well-known coffee."

REUTERS | COMMENT NOW

Seattle's "brand value": $76.8 billion Richard Florida and team map the value of corporate brands based in various cities. Seattle has fewer top-500 brands than nine other metro areas (just five), but they're worth more than any others' except New York's and Silicon Valley's.

THE ATLANTIC CITIES | COMMENT NOW

Starbucks' new Tukwila stop: recycled shipping containers On Tuesday Starbucks will open a drive-through built from four of the millions of giant steel crates that pass by its Duwamish headquarters. It even looks cool.

SEATTLE TIMES: BUSINESS/TECH | COMMENT NOW

Join Crosscut now!
Subscribe to our Newsletter

Follow Us »