The End is Nigh

For shits and giggles today I dropped by the opening day celebrations at the very first Starbucks in France. That's right. Starbucks. In Paris.

And despite the party line being "why would I want to drink the sock juice coffee of the boorish American chain when instead I could...", Parisians were lined up out the fucking door waiting for their first taste of a vente frappucino. Seriously, out the door. Standing on the sidewalk.

In addition to being the third sign of the apocalypse, this is truly a testament to the power of marketing. Paris already has a coffee culture. A wonderful, tasty, coffee culture with a long history. There is no need for Starbucks here. The coffee at the corner cafe is better and cheaper than anything Bucks has to offer.

But, I guess the beauty of marketing is that you create the need, and then you provide the product to fill the need.

I am curious to see what Paris will look like in 5 years. In North American cities public garbage cans are often filled to overflowing with empty take away containers and to-go coffee cups. The portable food culture generates an awful lot of garbage that is disposed of in the public sphere.

Not so in Paris. For the most part, you eat and drink where you purchase your refreshment. There are public garbage cans, but they are absolutely not designed to accommodate the volume of garbage generated by 500,000 people swilling Cafe Mochas on the run.

We didn't stop for coffee at Starbucks. Instead we went down the street to a neighbourhood cafe where J paid 8.40E for a large Coke. Because, you know, damn the man and all that.