The new Starbucks next to our building finally opened a few weeks after our arrival. Starbucks had been in France for about eight years but had never made a profit. Sure, you'd see many tourists who wanted to feel at home or walk around with big cups in their hands, and young locals who wanted free wifi, but in general Parisians, with their ubiquitous Cafés, looked at Starbucks with contempt.
On Sunday mornings they sold pancakes, so we decided to try them. There too baristas used name tags and customers had learned to stand in line, place their orders and find a table when their orders were ready. The pancakes weren't great, and even by French coffee standards their espresso was bad, so we never went back.
