Four Reasons Why Are There So Many Starbucks in NYC

Everybody's heard the joke about the latest Starbucks… opening in the bathroom of a Starbucks. Yet it does highlight one of the stranger things about Manhattan. You'd think NYC would be filled with tragically hip coffee shops, but instead it's been overrun by a Seattle-based corporate coffee chain.

For a town that prides itself on being cool, why in the world would there be a Starbucks literally on every other block? And why are all of these Starbucks busy all of the time?

1) Public Space
Starbucks serves somewhat of a broad and altruistic social function in New York by providing public space. The chain essentially offers up a heated (or air-conditioned depending on the season) indoor park every few hundred feet throughout the city. Admission is just an overpriced cup of coffee.

2) Cheap Wireless Internet
Even though New Yorkers try so hard to be cool, a high percentage of them are tools who can't seem to break away from their laptops. For just a few bucks you can get wireless internet at most Starbucks. Astute New York people-watchers will be able to name an entire taxonomy of laptop-wielding customers, ranging from the scruffy unemployed screenwriter, to the i-banking associate working on a PowerPoint pitch book, to the business school study group working on a group project, etc.

3) One of Two Key Food Groups
Coffee and nicotine are two critical food groups for a surprising amount of New Yorkers. Hence the expression that a New Yorker's breakfast is coffee and a cigarette.

4) Satisfying the Inner Snob
There's another joke about New Yorkers: How do you get a New Yorker to wait in line? Simple: put up a velvet rope and a bouncer. New Yorkers cannot resist the urge to wait in line for something that they'll eventually overpay for.

Oh, right, and maybe they actually like the coffee too.