GIVE ME COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE

Are there too many Starbucks in the world? Some neighborhoods appear to have too many, though others are grateful to get one. The Chicago Tribune reports on the opening of the first Starbucks south of Hyde Park in Chicago, a factoid I find amazing. I lived about six blocks south of the franchise's location at 71st and Stoney Island back in the 1970s, and it was a good middle-class neighborhood then, but apparently was not seen as a viable place for a $4-per-cup coffee emporium by the time Starbucks germinated from its infancy as Peet's offspring and took over most of America. Perhaps this is an early signal of gentrification? Or simply the start of giving residents consumer choices in line with their neighbors to the north? Does having a Starbucks in the neighborhood indicate hope for the future, or does it just mean another place to spend the price of a meal on a cup of coffee?