Why is Starbucks so Popular?

OK, that's an enormous question. But it occured to me, as I was standing in line waiting for my sinfully boring small (a.k.a. tall) drip coffee, that there's a bunch of reasons why Starbucks is everywhere, not the least of which is that they cater to any increasingly engagist society. We've all heard about how Starbucks broke the mold on the location of their stores -- they decided to put themselves smack dab in the middle of where people were already buying coffee. Not so radical, but then they'd put two or three or four stores in that same area within blocks of each other. The conventional wisdom is that the stores should have burned each other out. But they didn't. They ALL thrived.

We've heard, too, of the fact that Starbucks works hard on its brand and image -- wherever you go in the world, you know when you're in a Starbucks. A triple caramel macchiato looks and tastes the same whether you're in DC or New Zealand (I know, I've checked).

But it's the triple caramel machiatto that I think really makes the difference. Starbucks lets the consumer "engage" by concocting their own crazy drinks that match their own personalities (what does that say about me and my boring drip coffee). As I was listening to people shout out their drink orders, I was impressed by the array -- half caff/skim lattes shared the limelight with double espressos with a dash of hazlenut. Basically, consumers can take absolutely any ingredient in the Starbucks arsenal and combine it into their own customized drink. They aren't passively receiving the drink of the barrista's choice -- they are engaging. And that's at least part of the reason why Starbucks is so successul.