I don't know the overlap of Caribou and Starbucks, but I saw both in Chicago earlier this week ... but Youngstown, Ohio had no Starbucks, only Caribou.

I rather enjoyed my latte at Caribou.

But my favorite (as a Los Angeles resident) has always been Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, but not for the coffee, they have excellent looseleaf tea.

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Dunkin Donuts?

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Dunkin Donuts is a donut shop, not a coffee house

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Go Peets! I am slightly biased being of the Bay Area, but I have always felt Peets provides superior product to any major coffee producer out there, most especially Charbucks.

Still, having occasionally journeyed to parts of our fair country where they have not even such a thing as Starbucks, I've seen the belly of the beast. I'll take Seattle's bitter brew over watery gas station coffee any day.

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Ridiculous list.

There are tons of chains not listed (Dunkin', etc.) - they're no less coffee shops that Starbucks is.

(Also, any Canadian will tell you that Tim Horton's is a donut shop too.)

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Dunkin Donuts, while not technically a "coffee house" is where most people go to get coffee. It has about 5000 locations I think. Here in New England there are four dunkin donuts within a mile of my (suburban) house and I have to drive about 10 or 12 miles to get to the closest Starbucks.

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Considering how Dunkin Donuts is dropping the Donuts from their name, I really think they are moving away from the donuts, trying to be more like a coffee shop. Besides, people swear by their coffee more than anyone else on that list from what I see.

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Being from Massachusetts, Dunkin' is a way of life around here. They are attempting to branch out into a full featured coffee house with latte's, espresso's, and flavored coffees. I agree that it is as much a coffee house as many of the other names on the list.

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Gloria Jeans perhaps?

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I second the vote for the tea at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. It is wonderful.

Also, the coffee from Dunn Bros. is the best coffee I have ever had outside of the home. Just wonderful. They roast fresh every 2 days and it shows. There's even a roaster's log that you can review in-store.

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http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/06/09/dunkin_plots_national_push/

According to this article there are about 5000 dunkin donuts around.

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Aside from the omitted chains, what's so scary about 8,000 Starbucks? That's a whopping 1 for every 37,305 Americans. I've got one a couple of miles away, and a local coffee shop around the corner.

It really doesn't matter what a company does - people freak out if it is in the lead. Doubly so when someone cooks the numbers to exaggerate the lead.

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