Spoke with Reuthers reporter Jon Cook last week. He asked about whether Starbucks killed the independents. See his piece, http://blogs.reuters.com/small-business/tag/bryant-simon/

But there is another important and related point. Starbucks in many ways, however, kills choice. The company's size and ubiquity have made the "little" guys quite often into replicas of Starbucks. Starbucks taught consumers what to expect and want and they demand it even when they are not at Starbucks.

Inside many mom and pop and independent coffee shops, you can see this narrowing of difference. Just about very coffee joint everywhere charges the same prices, even the ones with worn coaches and clerks on work release programs from cutting-edge bands. They all sell biscotti, bagels, muffins, and scones – no place but a few English-style tea shops for ladies in white gloves sold scones before Starbucks came along. All of these shops serve lattes and cappuccinos – and almost always these drinks come Starbucks-style, not Italian-style, with lots of milk and foam. (Remember, Starbucks essentially invented and popularized the latte.) And they all have their own versions frappuccinos – those warm weather friendly blended iced coffee drinks -- they just can’t call them that.

Infusion, a fair-trade-selling, professor-hanging-out place with posters for Green Party candidates and bluegrass jam sessions on the walls in Philadelphia’s liberal Mt. Airy section, offers all kinds of frappes and other milky concoctions. Maybe some independents want to serve more authentic drinks, but they can’t. Customers think that Starbucks is the real thing, or real enough to fashion their tastes. Many even speak Starbucks outside of Starbucks. Listen closely and you will hear people ordering ventis and grandes at the corner coffee shop all the time. The more things are the same, well, the more they are the same.