Reports of Starbucks Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

There is an adage that Seattlelites only go to Starbucks when they are away from home, which is true in my case for the most part, as although I drop in from time to time for some of their non-coffee beverages, I am a loyal client of Seattle’s own Uptown Espresso, Home of the Velvet Foam â. If you’re from Seattle, there’s Uptown and Ladro, and where you go says a lot about you - kind of like how a guitar player plays a G chord. Anyway, fortunately for me the coffee shops in Moscow keep me satisfied (with prices just like in America, or even higher in some cases), unlike my trip to Atlanta five years ago. After a week suffering through what Atlantans consider espresso, I was ecstatic to come upon a Starbucks during a layover in the airport terminal in Memphis.

Our Rotaract club recently had an interesting excursion to the American Embassy in Moscow. There was much anticipation of a visit to the :: Starbucks :: – there were reports that one had opened inside (keep in mind that the embassy in Moscow is one of America’s largest, there are apartments, a recreation center, post office, and convenience store inside, and that’s only what we were permitted to see). I understand that Starbucks would like to enter the Russian market, and given the number of coffee shops here, they might have an interesting time of it. We already have Coffee Bean and Coffee Mania, in addition to some local creations, including a chain whose name is ‘coffee house’ – not translated into Russian but simply sounded out in Cyrillic (КОФЕ ХАУС) – and which has a similar location strategy to Starbucks; there are at least five within one square mile in central Moscow (that I’m aware of). The cool thing about Moscow coffeeshops is that they serve alcohol, should you want some whisky with your caffeine. The smoking sections are larger than the non-smoking sections in most of them, except for Coffee Bean, which is all non-smoking. Coffee Bean is celebrating 10 years in Moscow this month, by the way, which I mention to dispel the impression of a continuance of Soviet times.

Unfortunately for Starbucks, an enterprising Russian has been busy for the last several years registering trademarks of foreign companies and then selling them back to their owners. Starbucks had registered their mark several years ago, but by Russian law if the trademark owner does not open a business under the mark within a certain period, it reverts to open domain and can be claimed by someone else, which is what happened to Starbucks. They have taken the guy to court as they don’t want to have to pay for their trademark. I understand this guy got around half a million from Samsung in this way. If he wins the court case and Starbucks doesn’t purchase the mark, he said he would open a coffee shop under the name.

Back to our excursion and anticipation of brand exposure. There were reports that since technically the American Embassy is American soil, and therefore outside Russian jurisdiction, Starbucks had opened up a shop there. I was imagining the kiosk-style Starbucks one finds in airports, but in fact it turned out that it was a regular coffeestand, and the only thing Starbucks about it were the beans. No familiar green and white uniforms or extensive menu, and sadly, no frappuccinos, they had only lattes, espresso, and cappuccino. No mochas! I didn’t ask if they had soy milk. Being that my Rotaract colleagues know I am both a coffee drinker and from Seattle, several had me order for them, although. I kept trying to explain that they could easily pick themselves, as there was nothing complicated on the menu like at a real Starbucks (double tall, half-caff, nonfat, no whip, vanilla latte please). Upon receiving his tasty beverage, one of my Russian friends remarked, “Tastes like America.”