Never quite figured out why some corporations are more hated than others. Folks fly to Albquerque on a corporate airline, on a jet built by a multi-national corporation, rent a car -- built by a multinational corporration -- from a multinational leasing company, drive up roads build by national-scale construction companies, then complain that their coffee is prepared by a multinaitonal or consider themselves some sort of folk-hero when they partonize some shop owned by a part-time local resident who spends the profits from the quasi-local shop traveling in all the same corporate venues.

I like Starbucks because they have organic milk for the children, the biggest size ice lattes, and the people that work there are friendly.  Their soy milk is organic too.  They pay their employees well, have great benefits, and health insurance.  Starbucks is a successful American company and they have no problem paying the Santa Fe minumum wage.  Bravo to Starbucks!

There is a strongly held but false belief that Starbucks puts the local shops out of business, or at least cuts deeply into them.  Starbucks has done wonderful things for the locals it has tried to shutter. It was nicely summed up in a 2007 Slate.com article (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/hey_wait_a_minute/2007/12/dont_fear_starbucks.html)

In addition, Starbucks has created thousands of new coffee afficianados that seems to have boosted the entire coffee industry as a whole. The reason you have so many choices even at the smallest mom & pop café is in part due to Starbucks. 

Personally I don't like the Starbucks over-roasted taste but I do not dislike them as a company.

Oh boy!  ANOTHER poison brown water distributor in Santa Fe!  What is it with the attraction to this junk that Starbuck's brews?