I was reading an interview with Howard Schultz, the man who made Starbucks into a global phenomenon, and he described how he developed his ideas while in Milan.

He was captivated by the showmanship of Italian baristas and how they created a sense of community in their coffee shops. I seem to recall that the experience of Starbucks was once like that. Someone asked what type of coffee you wanted and appeared to put some effort into making it specially for you. Today, the experience is simply about standing a queue.

But if you are a storekeeper, the ideas of showmanship and creating a community are two that you would do well to keep in mind. Once, they made Starbucks great.