Quoting from:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=107006775

You can still call it grande but you can't call it Starbucks.
This week, Starbucks opened a remodeled cafe, and a key
ingredient was missing - not Cafe Verona blend or iced grande
lattes, but the name - a name that may now be better
known in the U.S. than any car company. There is no Starbucks
name on the outside of what they now call 15th Avenue
Coffee and Tea in Seattle. No green and white logo on the cups.

[. . .]

"So it's this huge corporate leviathan trying to act like it's
all homey and neighborhood-y, and I don't think that's going
to work. I mean, if that worked, if the little neighborhood
coffee shops worked, why did Starbucks put them all out of
business so easily? I mean, wasn't there an economy of scale
going on for Starbucks?"

[. . .]

Many ideas for the new cafe came from within Starbucks.
But for other ideas, Starbucks employees went on observation
missions, visiting lots of local, independent cafes.

Sebastian Simsch, co-owner of Seattle Coffee Works, says
Starbucks scouts visited on three separate occasions. While
he was flattered, he wonders what exactly they were looking
for.

"We are a coffee house. Coffee houses have been around for
centuries," he says. "What are we doing that they can't
figure out on their own?"

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
> "So it's this huge corporate leviathan trying to act like it's
> all homey and neighborhood-y, and I don't think that's going
> to work. I mean, if that worked, if the little neighborhood
> coffee shops worked, why did Starbucks put them all out of
> business so easily? I mean, wasn't there an economy of scale
> going on for Starbucks?"

>
> Sebastian Simsch, co-owner of Seattle Coffee Works, says
> Starbucks scouts visited on three separate occasions. While
> he was flattered, he wonders what exactly they were looking
> for.

Just a guess on my part, but Starbucks had many loyal customers and many
loyal detractors. This may be a way to sell coffee to the detractors. New
name, new image, perhaps lower prices and different blends of coffee.