That's a TERRIBLE thing to say. Some of us go to the trouble of having DD beans shipped to us every month. Basic DD drip is much better than its bitter Sbux counterpart.

600 SBs closing is a good start. A brand that once stood for warmth and gracious ambiance now looks pretentious and ridiculous and out of tune with these parlous times. SB coffee is about as "special" or "premium" as McDonald's french fries, you feel like an idiot spending five or six times what the product is really worth, and their sweet milky premium drinks are dietetic atrocities.

Here in Seattle (where we are sadly DD-less ) there was a time when legions of obedient Starbucks zombies -- the same kinds of people who cursed McDonald's for covering the planet with cheap, uniform, mediocre junk food -- were thrilled that Starbucks was covering the planet with cheap, uniform, mediocre, burned-tasting coffee. Nowadays you will find very few Seattleites who admit to being outright Starbucks fans. They're an urban convenience like public toilets, but the brand is basically over.