That Place Between Work And Home

Soothing music greets her as she walks through the door and steam billows from a Cappuccino machine behind the counter.

"Good morning," Christine Wilkes says, handing her Starbucks Gold Card over to the barista behind the counter who within seconds has "the usual" ready for Wilkes. 

The trip into Starbucks is one that Wilkes makes often. Still, for her, it never gets old. 

So while this week's Remembered Places hasn't been in Little Neck nearly as long as the moraines left from the last Ice Age, the impact Starbucks — which celebrates 40 years of being in business on Wednesday — has had on the lives of many Little Neck residents is undeniable. 

"The Venti skim latte is part of my morning routine," said Wilkes, an avid Starbucks customer, picking up her “morning cup” on her way to work this week. "It's part of my daily ritual … I even come here on the weekend sometimes."

Wilkes isn't the only one who makes a daily pilgrimage to the Starbucks, located in Little Neck Plaza along Horace Harding Expressway.

"We have a lot of regulars who come here… Some we even know by first name," said one Starbucks employee.

Though the coffee giant has plenty of detractors, it’s this personal touch — one of the key components to the Starbucks formula — that helped make the company such a huge success.

The story of Starbucks began in 1971, with a narrow storefront in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market.

With a name inspired by Herman Melville's "Moby Dick," which evoked the romance of the high seas and seafaring traditions of early coffee traders, the founders of Starbucks set out with the goal of offering the world the finest fresh-roasted whole bean coffees.

Still, it wasn’t until 1981, when Howard Schultz — today Starbucks' chairman, president and CEO — had his first fateful taste of what would become the now-ubiquitous coffee shop's signature Sumatra blend, that the story of one of American business' biggest success stories truly began.

Proclaiming "love at first sip," Schultz was immediately energized by a vision of bringing the Italian coffeehouse tradition to the forefront of American culture.

By 1987, Schultz rounded up enough local investors to help him purchase Starbucks from its original owners. Soon after, his dream of offering people a place to go for conversation and community was realized. 

Today, Starbucks has more than 15,000 stores in 50 countries and has grown to become one of the world's most respected corporations. 

But it all began with one store, one cup and a dream.