Virginia Postrel, Columnist

Starbucks Is 50 and Emboldening Its Rivals More Than Ever

Evolving from a stark Milanese design to a cozy Main Street cafe, it has energized a thriving counter-movement of independent coffeehouses.

October 12, 2021 at 12:30 PM UTC

By Virginia Postrel

Virginia Postrel is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She is a visiting fellow at the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University and author, most recently, of “The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World.”

A 2008 replica of the original Starbucks.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images North America

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Starbucks is marking its 50th anniversary. If you think that number must be off by a couple of decades, you’re not alone. The chain only made its way into most of our lives in the 1990s. Its success was a slow brew, requiring several recipe changes.

The original Starbucks wasn’t a café. It sold gourmet beans and equipment so customers could make their own coffee. In 1981, a sales rep for one of its suppliers visited to see why four small stores in Seattle were selling more of a simple drip setup than all of Macy’s.