“Starbucks, which has been scaling back its once-grand ambitions to turn itself into an entertainment hub, is about to shrink its plans yet again. We hear that by September, the chain will have dumped almost all of its in-store music retail offerings,” Peter Kafka reports for Silicon Alley Insider.
“That means no more ‘spinner’ racks offering multiple CD choices to latte-buyers. And that also means no more gift cards and promotional giveaways for Apples iTunes. Instead, we’re told, the coffee chain will offer just four CD ‘slots’ per store,” Kafka reports. “But it will also continue to offer free Wi-fi access to Apple’s online music store and may continue to try to sell entertainment online.”
More info in the full article here.
It’s interesting that Starbucks would consider dumping iTunes Gift Cards as the card display takes up so little room and the cards seem to work quite well for other retailers like Target.
Gee, I can’t imagine why Starbucks can’t sell music? A) People don’t go there for music. B) They seem to only have wacky “These are the favorite 5 or 10 songs of a barista in Nepal”. C) They don’t even play the music they have for sale in the store itself.
They have such a small variety of music, most people just stand there waiting in line making fun of how ridiculous the music is.
The problem with Starbucks has always been the LACK OF FREE INTERNET ACCESS!!!
Sure I can understand in some locations that having people hogging much needed chairs all day for a $5 cup of latte is bad business, but they could at least made it a timed access.
Buy a cup of coffee, get a access code, check your email or something vital for 10-20 minutes and your gone.
All these businesses charging for internet access can suck my balls. Including Starbucks, despite how much I love their coffee.
Starbucks’ problem is putting up too many stores too quickly. When money gets a little tight, those $5.00 lattes are one of the first things to go.
When that depression hits next year, there won’t be too many Starbucks left.
Where are the Starbucks iTunes stores?
There’s a Starbucks next to the Moscone Center, where WWDC was held, and the much touted Starbucks iTunes store was conspicuously missing. The store didn’t even have free wi-fi.
Needless to say, it wasn’t a good omen.
I think it’s a good idea. I go to Starbucks for coffee, internet’s good. iTunes is a bonus in the background.
Starbucks has been looking more and more like an Apple subsidiary. Better if it regains some character: more subtle about its relationship with Apple, less in its customers’ faces.
“interesting that Starbucks would consider dumping iTunes Gift Cards.” It’s only interesting until you find out that a competitor has bought all the space to market their crappy also-ran music store…
As long as gas is going to cost $4.00 to $5.00 a gallon, people will get their coffee from McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts. The coffee is just as good if not better than Starbucks and you won’t spend $6.00 for a Cappucino and a donut. Starbucks’ pricing, customer service and quality have dropped significantly in the past few years because they have spread themselves too thin.
I do like the idea of them bringing back actual porcelain mugs to get your coffee in and having an hours worth of free internet access. If you want people to start respecting your Company again, you have to do a better job of providing exemplary customer service. Starbucks forgot this when they decided to sell $6.00 sandwiches and $20.00 CDs.
I myself do not go to Starbucks anymore unless someone gives me a gift card… and I used to go all the time. Too expensive and poor quality coffee.
@Mad Mac Maniac
Starbucks provides free WiFi access here in Peru, and their shops are always full.
I’m sure it would be the same in the US.
I remember once in Cupertino (I lived in California for 7 years), at the shop in El Camino Real, you were able to pick WiFi from the city.
Where am I going to steal all my new cee dees from now?
Seriously, there was never any inventory protection in any of these stores. I live in NYC and once saw a homeless person walk in to my local Harbux, go straight to the music rack, grab a HANDFUL of cd’s and walk the f*** out the door.
Starbucks “Pick of the Week” cards remain.
That’s it.
Starbucks is in a world of hurt. They can’t seem to get any operational aspects of their company right. The stores I go to are always out of stock of items for days at a time, many times I get the wrong order and customer service refuses to make the stores label items by name. Furthermore, after a week of free wi-fi based on using the customer rewards card, the train if off the rails and they can’t seem to get it working again.
MDN magic word: Over is in it;s over, starbucks, its over!!!
You MAC zealots make me want to puke in my triple-shot no-foam leave room on the top for extra-sugar frappacino.
Every since we came out with our new roast (New Vistas), six years in development, you Mactards come in asking for a downgrade to original roast (XR). Why don’t you get with the program and just go with New Vistas Roast. Every sale is counted as a New Vista sale, downgrade or not, so sooner or later the SB franchises will stop carrying XR Original Roast anyway.
Your potential / Our burning! passion
iTunes music and wifi is still not available here in the south OC for iphone owers.
What kind of moron pays for coffee anyways?
Nobody here ever heard of a thermos or your local AA meeting(usually have donuts also, plus you get real human drama)?
@ Star Tang,
You are as stupid as they come.
NOT funny.
NOT entertaining.
Leave.
Starbuck’s is trying to get back to making great coffee, and frankly, they’re recognizing that fewer and fewer people are buying CDs. What Starbuck’s really should do with Apple is have a special Starbuck’s portal to iTunes via free Wi-Fi at their stores.
Starbuck’s isn’t hurting because of the down economy, it’s hurting because it expanded too quickly into too many non-core areas. If Starbuck’s makes their stores comfortable, fun places to have business meetings or gather with friends, it will do just fine.
iTunes out.
Zune MarketPlace in.
Oh yea, I forgot, you can’t buy Zune songs over WIFI
Can only mean that iTunes sales are coming in well below expectations and that the entire iFad is in serious danger of expiring.
@ Fit To Print:
You sir, are an idiot.
Is that what it means?
Really?
Music is a fad eh?
$5 coffee may be, music is not.
5-billion and counting…
look, 7-11 has $1.70, 32oz french vanilla cappucinos, that tastes great, free milk, sugar, flavored syrup, cream, honey, flavored cream, sweet -n – low, marsmallows, cinammon, pumpkin spice, so have fun, don’t get your cord jerked paying more for coffee than gas!!
You lame bloggers, get a life and go outside and work the fat off. Who cares that Starbucks is going back to their original business model. Are you on their board of directors? Do you work for Apple and feel insulted? Idiots
@Star Tang ©
“It’s the coffee, stupid.”
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Starbucks – FREE wifi – just do it and watch your sales go up.
They charge for wifi – so no-one goes there.
The music thing – well its one less thing to get people in the store – maybe Starbux wants to fail?
In an economic downturn certain spending patterns are altered as consumers tighten their belts. I’d be interested in seeing whether their patronage at Starbucks is down as well.
boulderfrog,
Do you know the difference between a recession and a depression? Obviously not! A recession is where an economy experiences negative growth over two consecutive quarters. Now the figures for any economy are always a measure of previous quarters and I’d be very surprised if the US economy isn’t already in recession. And it will be a deep and prolonged period of reduced growth.
The reason for my prediction over the severity of this economic downturn is that the American economy can be summed up in one word…STAGFLATION. This is where an economy experiences rising prices (usually from overseas sources) whilst at the same time there are falling sales coupled with falling consumer sentiment.
Now because of a lack of economic regulation lenders have given out funds to the sub-prime market and these debts are then on-sold as a means of generating further investments. This is just plain voodoo economics. You can only generate profits on debt from the parties that generate profits, not from the poor.
Now this is where I sheet home the blame. The US government was warned of the problems of these type of loans and ignored these warnings. And I get sick and tired of economic idiots on this site and others who, when you mention the word regulation they bleat out the word “liberal”. For God’s sake a government is meant to govern and the Bush administration has failed miserably in the governance stakes.
If, at a federal level the government had regulations that would’ve prevented these type of loans then the only problem the American economy would have experienced would be inflation. Instead they have stagflation and this is extremely hard to overcome. It means cutting back on frivolous expenditure, attempting to control imports whilst stimulating the economy without fuelling inflation. This is a very difficult balancing act.
So what the American economy will experience after this recession ends is a period of subdued growth around one to two percent. Whilst this happens unemployment will rise and consumer sentiment will fall. And it will take some time for the economy to be straightened out.
A depression is where an economy contracts by at least ten percent. boulderfrog, this isn’t going to happen.
Just to remind American readers of Bush’s voodoo economics is his tax cuts that favoured the rich which was based on the trickle down theory. The thinking behind this is that the wealthy will spend the tax cuts wisely and this will create jobs. What a load of codswallop. If it was tax cuts to industry then this is an entirely different scenario. I mean how much extra will the rich spend on food, electricity, consumer goods and the like. No, what happens when there is an economic downturn the richer people are the more money they will slot away in precious metals, stamps, rare coins, overseas investments accounts and the like.
So on the one hand we have a sub-prime blow-out that rocks the finance industry all the way down to it’s foundations and tax cuts that are directed to the wrong people. And in the meantime there are billions of dollars wasted on a war with little economic return.
This is the Bush legacy, a depressed economy, companies going broke, people losing their jobs and consumer spending in free fall. And in the meantime the American economy awaiting the economic return from an investment in a war. In economics when you are involved in a large-scale war there must an economic return from the investment. The US economy is still waiting for this dividend.
In sum, whoever wins the November Presidential elections, for the first time in eight years the United State of America will have a leader with a brain and at least we can be thankful for that outcome.