Starbucksification

English

Etymology

From Starbucks +‎ -ification, named after the American coffee company and coffeehouse chain.

Noun

Starbucksification (uncountable)

1. (derogatory) Increased homogeneity of an area as a result of big business, to the detriment of local character and diversity.
   • 2004, The University of Chicago Magazine, volume 97, page 18:

     In what might be seen as a move to promote salon-style discussions or a result of society's Starbucksification, a self-serve, push-button cappuccino, latte, and espresso machine came fall quarter to the Bartlett Dining Commons.

   • 2007, Tom Hodgkinson, How To Be Free:

     It leads to chainstores swallowing up individual enterprises; it leads to the phenomenon, recently labelled 'clone towns' in the UK, whereby every high street looks pretty much like every other high street. It leads to the Starbucksification of the world […]

   • 2012, Charles Landry, The Art of City Making, page 127:

     The billboards were placed by an informal coalition of independent Louisville businesses – a protest against 'Starbucksification', sparked by the sale of Hawley-Cooke, Louisville's largest independent bookstore, to Borders in August 2003.

See also

• clone town