Seattlest works from home, as we've mentioned before, and these days home is a darkish (albeit big-ish) studio apartment on First Hill. Especially on days like today, it can get a little dark and quiet, the patter of rain against our window and our weird-ass cat can be a bit much. So we like to shake things up a bit by heading out into our neighborhood and spending some of our hard-earned cash at any......

This is NOT how the new Amsterdam Starbucks will look. Courtesy of Flickr Contributor Amsterdam Asp Despite closing stores all over the world, Starbucks announced today they'll be opening their first non-airport store in Amsterdam in 2009. Sadly, the mermaid has decided not to go the traditional Amsterdam coffee shop route, which means no Purple Haze with your Frappucino, folks. Starbucks' official reason for not allowing its patrons in the Netherlands to smoke a bowl......

"Espresso making at Vivace" by seattlerealtorgal Good morning! Here's your espresso, fresh from the Seattlest Flickr pool. Wakey wakey!......

Back in February (brrr!), we reported on the venerable Capitol Hill institution, B&O Espresso, being forced out of its longtime location at the corner of Belmont & Olive because the property owners had plans for a multi-story apartment building there. This weekend we stopped in and saw the B&O's owner Majid behind the pastry case, and asked how things were going. Turns out that he's still planning on moving up to Broadway to take over......

All is not well in the land of the mermaid. After weeks of whispered words like "bloodbath" around Starbucks headquarters and gossip sites, the coffee giant announced today just how large this round of lay-offs will be. Today's cuts will affect 1,000 employees, 180 of them located in Seattle at Starbucks HQ or the regional office. This comes hot on the heels of news that Starbucks will be closing 616 under-performing stores and that the......

Straight from the mermaid's pressroom, Starbucks has quietly released the full list of U.S. store closures. There are 19 stores in Washington on the list and 7 stores in Seattle. If Seattlest went to Starbucks, or if we weren't fond of brewing our own strong drip coffee, we'd be mourning the loss of our neighborhood store on 15th Ave E. Also facing closure? Starbucks stores all over the city--from West Seattle to Northgate Mall to......

After announcing on July 1st plans to close 600 retail stores nationwide, the powers that be have released the locations of the first Starbucks stores that will close. None of the doomed stores are in Seattle or even Washington state. Heck, even Oregon and Idaho's Starbucks are safe for now. The closest Starbucks store facing closure thus far is in California, but there are hundreds more to come. So, breathe easy Seattle Starbucks baristas. Your......

Attention, Seattle caffeine addicts....wait, let's rephrase that. Seattle, what a week it's been for free coffee! First, Starbucks debuted a new blend on Tuesday, giving patrons a free taste which resulted in lines out the door at many stores. Now, tomorrow, McDonald's begins a four-week promotion called "Free Latte Friday." Go to any McDonald's in Western Washington tomorrow before 10:30 a.m. and get a free (Mc)latte. McDonald's has launched "Un-Snobby Coffee.com" and have recently launched......

"I humbly recognize and share both your concern and your disappointment in how the company has performed and how that has affected your investment in Starbucks," Schultz told investors. "I promise you this will not stand." So spake Howard Schultz at the annual shareholder meeting. Then he announced the solution: Starbucks is buying Clover, a Ballard company that makes coffee machines. And they'll maybe start serving energy drinks. Not enough. Schultz--like Bush--doesn't seem to......