Starbucks Coffee

 By Bruce Shawkey

How did we ever survive before Starbucks? Here is their abbreviated history from their website:

We’ve come a long way since our original store opened in 1971, but our founders’ vision is still alive and well. Friends since their University of San Francisco days, Gerald Baldwin, a former English teacher, Gordon Bowker, a writer, and Zev Siegl, a history teacher, were three 20-somethings who were passionate about the arts, fine food, good wine and, of course, great coffee. They started Starbucks because they wanted Seattle to have access to the delicious dark-roasted coffee that they loved – but had to go out of town to find.

Investing $1,350 apiece and borrowing $5,000 from a bank, they took a name from classic literature and opened our first store on Mar. 30, 1971. Under the watchful gaze of an enigmatic mythological figure, Siegl scooped beans for customers; in the beginning, he was the only paid employee. The others kept their day jobs.

Today, Starbucks is worth $97.6 billion. 

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Starbucks has stores EVERYWHERE. There's one not 500 feet from my apartment inside a Hy-Vee supermarket. They make all sorts of coffee and non-coffee creations, but I stick with the straight-old cup of coffee.

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Starbucks logo over the years:

A Starbucks rep explains how the logo evolved over the years:

Few symbols are as recognizable as the Starbucks siren, and, like most icons, her look has adapted to the changing times. Our original logo, designed by Terry Heckler in 1971, depicted a bare-breasted figure surrounded by our name (then “Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spices”). Although her nudity raised some eyebrows, the risqué logo worked well when printed at small scale. When the time came to plaster her on delivery trucks, however, we knew modesty was the best policy.