When it comes to Starbucks, I zag when others zig.  Well, I go there…which… means I’m zigging with the rest of them.  But I go there happily without I’m-too-cool bitching about it.  (that’s the zag.)  Seriously – have you ever driven through a town and needed a decent caffeine jolt and there was no Starbucks around?  Trust me, you get all wild-eyed and start panicking out loud about what godforsaken corner of the uncivilized desert you’ve wandered into.  Plus let us thank Starbucks for being the only mass business that gave us a taste of European cafe culture – the “go ahead and hang out as long as you like.”  Up until then, the minute your butt hit a seat in any kind of restaurant or business, you were on their GTFO timer.  (you can figure out those initials.)

But I dare say…if Starbucks would open stores like THIS in the U.S.  – all those warbling hipsters would STFU.  (whew – I’m all about f-bomb acronyms today)  These are photos taken from a Starbucks concept store in Kamakura Japan.  It’s just like any other Starbucks – open space, high ceilings, terraced seating around a pool.  Yeah – a pool.  Of course if this was in the States – you would inevitably find straw paper, sugar packets and a turd floating in the pool.

Want it.