He gets a buzz from Starbucks
When I travel to other cities, I often ask: ''Can you tell me where the nearest
I wouldn't call it love; perhaps a subdued affection. But I'm genuinely intrigued by, and admiring of, Starbucks's success. The coffee is one thing. Some people like it, some people don't. I've conquered my addiction to Frappuccinos, and the typical Starbucks ''menu" is pretty spare. It's how they manage their non-coffee business that fascinates me.
You may know that Starbucks has been in the music business for quite some time. They've coproduced recordings by Herbie Hancock and Ray Charles and distributed albums by Bob Dylan and Alanis Morissette. In just a few weeks they'll start hyping a movie they're helping to distribute, ''Akeelah and the Bee." This ''heartwarming drama" will be released in theaters and sold on DVD at the sign of the Green Mermaid.
More impressively, the company has succeeded in creating a hospitable ''third place" in American life -- the phrase is from founder Howard Schultz's ghost-written autobiography -- that is neither home nor the office. North Shore shift supervisor Eric Hillegas has worked at several Starbucks locations, including one near a university. ''It was sort of a second library for the students, and for some of the professors it was like stepping off the plane into the clubhouse. Where I work now, mothers come in with small children, and for them it's a time to gather together and be social without having to plan for it."
While pushing caffeine, Hillegas has also been studying for the ministry. He is probably one of the few managers who invokes the work of Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman to explain Starbucks's allure. Bauman, author of ''Liquid Life," has remarked that ''the old, hallowed distinction between working time and leisure time has been all but obliterated today." ''In a world where patterns are constantly shifting, Starbucks can be one of the constants in people's daily life," Hillegas says. (You can hear an interview with Bauman at marshillaudio.org/resources/mp3/MHAJ-48-Bauman.mp3.)
Starbucks treats its employees better than most national chains do, and as a result the average barista acts somewhat less comatose than the wage slaves at the supermarket or burger joints. Having wireless Internet access (which should be free, but never mind) allows ''consultants" (i.e. the unemployed) and ''novelists" (i.e. the unpublishable) to practice their craft in the coffeehouse. Unlike, say, the generally relaxed Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons, Starbucks lets people hang around, seemingly forever. The company is repaid in customer loyalty and good will.
Sure, there are things to criticize. Starbucks is no stranger to cult-speak. Employees are called ''partners." Managers seem quite enamored of the word ''transformative," a favorite company press-release-ism, e.g. ''Starbucks Successful Year in Music Leads to Shift in Paradigm with Introduction of Transformative Approach to Entertainment Industry." I find the company's endless, self-congratulatory twaddle about ''fair trade," and earth-saving ''Ethos water" quite cloying. But I am a well-known enemy of the future.
Here's what sealed the Starbucks deal for me. The mini-mall near where I live housed a popular, independent espresso bar. Then Starbucks opened up around the corner. I assumed the right-thinking denizens of my liberal suburb would shun the cookie-cutter coffee creeps from Seattle and rally to the cause of cappuccino independence.
Quite the opposite. Some kids from the high school started working at Starbucks, then their parents followed them in. Now it's very successful, chockablock with consultants, novelists, and even members of my family. I've conducted a few interviews there, and sometimes I sneak in to cop free looks at The New York Times columnists I can no longer read for free on the Web.
It's very impressive. The store has something for everyone -- even coffee.
Alex Beam is a Globe columnist. His e-dress is beam@globe.com. 
