Starbucks Party

Fiona and employee friends at Starbucks. This is why I love my wide angle lens - the perspective.

The other day my friend Fiona invited me to the grand opening of a new Starbucks in Shekou. Fiona runs a tea shop, but ever since a Starbucks opened next to her shop in OCT, she has taken up a taste for coffee. Anyways, as soon as I walked in the door I was greeted by a party-like atmosphere. Everybody was given a stamp upon entering, and our job was to find someone with the same stamp, so we could then claim a prize. Eventually there was a drawing and more prizes given. All food and drinks were free, so I tried a couple of really expensive things I usually don't get. Normally they don't let you take pictures, but this time, everyone had their cameras out, even the employees. It was really crazy and fun and I've never experienced anything like that at Starbucks before.

I spend a lot of time in Starbucks writing and uploading photos to my galleries and server; its like an office to me. I never spent much time in Starbucks in America because I didn't drink coffee then, but I was always aware of its bad reputation as a big chain that killed the competition and small business. I think its different in China. The idea of coffee is new here. A friend commented that the employees are "looking for something different" and that Starbucks represents something new and different for China. One thing for sure is they are always friendly, I've even developed a crush on the girls who work in my local Diwang branch - haha. However, I don't understand whey they need to charge American prices for coffee in China. I guess its the whole package. The environment is nice, and of course you have the free wi-fi connection. Its also nice that you can keep your own mug there and get a 2 kuai discount on coffee. One thing for sure is that I am thankful to have a place like this in China to hang out and get some work done.

Here is a gallery of photos from the Starbucks opening in Shekou, and here is a small article in the Daily, which I wasn't even planning to shoot for the news - it just occurred to me that it might be newsworthy. The picture somehow doesn't show up, but you can see it better in the first photo in the gallery.