Eeevul monopolist Starbucks

You KNEW this was going to happen:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The owner of a small coffee company sued Starbucks Corp. (SBUX.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday, claiming the coffee shop's anti-competitive business practices put her store out of business.

The suit, which seeks class action status, was filed in Seattle federal court by Penny Stafford, the owner of Belvi Coffee and Tea Exchange Inc.

According to court papers, Starbucks violated federal antitrust laws by leasing prime commercial real estate at above-market prices in return for the exclusive right to sell espresso drinks or specialty coffee in those locations.

If there is a problem with property-owners cutting deals with vendors, then Case (and most schools in the US) is in big trouble, because of the widespread practice of giving the soft drink concession on a campus to one company. Is it "an abuse of monopoly power" that forces me to go off-campus for a Coke?

The lawsuit alleges the chain "possesses monopoly power" because it has "at least" a 73 percent market share of the U.S. coffee shop industry.

Starbucks has said it has a less than 8 percent market share of all coffee consumed in the United States.

...which is comparing apples and oranges, as I'm sure most coffee consumed in the US is still made at home or in the office. I suspect the actual market share is lower than 73%, even counting only locations that specialize in coffee, and not gas stations etc.

The suit also claims that, after Stafford found a space at one prime Bellevue office building, Starbucks employees "were directed to stand at the entrance of Ms. Stafford's business for the purpose of handing out free Starbucks drinks."

Awww! so why didn't SHE stand in front of Starbuck's giving out free coffee?

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Comments

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Posted by: J
Posted on: September 26, 2006 11:51 AM

There was a time where when Pepsi made the agreement with Case on exclusive soda pop rights, student groups held events that year and offered coke products instead of pepsi. It was the only protest we could muster.

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Posted by: Lian Felani
Posted on: February 13, 2008 09:29 PM

Monopoly always destroy small bussiness. Make no chance for small bussines to grow.

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