Chicago has one of the highest urban concentrations of Starbucks, and I never thought many mom & pop or traditional places could survive. I myself love their coffee (black, no frills). Dunkin’ Donuts is planning more expansion into Chicago with it’s newer focus on coffee promotion. But there are a growing number of traditional coffee and tea shops in Chicago, and business is good. I’m sitting in one right now, on a leather couch, Radiohead is playing, on free wi-fi, and art for sale is hanging on exposed brick walls. It’s extremely spacious and chill. Sure the coffee isn’t quite as good…but it’s still a B+. How funny that there’s actually room in this market–while Starbucks focuses on branded entertainment, and Dunkin airs commercials mocking their “French/Italian” drink sizes.
