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Starbucks: Sluggish International Growth

In terms of central Europe at least, the article may be right, at least for now. I live in Prague, where the first starbucks has just opened and the 2nd one is slated to open later this year. The locals are openly disdainful of both the quality and the prices, and for good reason. It will take a lot to get anyone besides tourists to go to Starbucks. You can get an excellent espresso/capuccino for 2 bucks here (even with the deflated dollar). Why pay four or five?

There is a chain of Starbucks knock-offs called coffee heaven that have been around for years, but again, they're mainly frequented by tourists as well. By local standards they're obscenely expensive. As starbucks is.