In 2005, I interviewed a man named Winter, who was on a quest to visit ever Starbucks location on this planet.
Four years later, the quest continues.
Unfortunately, as documented by the Wall Street Journal, Starbucks is now closing stores faster than Winter can visit them.
In 2005, Winter had visited 4,500 Starbucks stores. Today, his count stands at more than 9,000. And he is now racing to visit those stores scheduled to close, sometimes missing them by a matter of hours.
Winter is single (no surprise there) and lives at home with his parents, who wish he’d just give up this Sysiphean quest.
But I get a kick out of his quest. In this period in our history when so much seems ephemeral, so many trends little more than 15-minute Wharholian blips, it’s nice to see somebody out there, crazy as he may be, sticking with it.
“Pointless though it might it be,” says Winter, who plans to go to the U.K. next week, “a goal is a goal.”
