Winter: Starbucks Fan on a Mission to See Every Coffee Shop

by Tina Kells | May 29, 2009 at 01:37 pm

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He's a one named wonder, Winter, and he's on a mission to visit every Starbucks store on the planet earth. Since 1997 Winter has been traveling around the world only making stops at destinations that have a Starbucks.

Winter is not a coffee junkie, although he is a fan, he is just a guy who wanted to do something different and unique with his life. After thinking it over he decided that the one thing he could accomplish above anything else was a Starbucks world tour. He now spends 25% of his annual earnings, and three months out of every year traveling to fulfill his Starbucks mission.

12 years after his Starbucks world tour began Winter has his work cut out for him. The Seattle based coffee shop that started in 1971 with just one small store near the Pike Place Market has grown to more than 16,000 outlets worldwide. In the United States alone there are more than 11,000 Starbucks stores. Since 1997 the number of Starbucks coffee shops on the planet has grown tenfold.

Winter claims to have visited 9078 Starbucks stores across the planet and he has the pictures to prove it. You can follow Winter and see his pictures of the various Starbucks around the world at his website Starbucks Everywhere; or follow him on Twitter @winterene.

Hello, my name is Winter, and I have never been a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Nevertheless, since 1997 (the same year Wu-Tang Forever was released) I have been on a personal mission to visit every Starbucks in the world. My original motivation was simply to accomplish something singularly unique. However, since that time, I have discovered many joys in the traveling and the challenge of my mission, and they help keep me going despite the ever-increasing difficulty.

What do I look like? This is me after a few days sleeping in my car on a typical road trip. Okay, here's a better photo . And here's a gallery of wacky photos. And here's some more info about me. Feel free to e-mail me at winterene@yahoo.com.

The idea for the project arose when he was working as a computer programmer in Texas in 1997.

At that time, Starbucks had about 1,400 coffee shops globally. The brand expanded rapidly, leaving him with a much more daunting task.

But now the US coffee company has announced plans to close about 960 shops around the world.

Winter, who spends three months a year on his quest, said that he was in a race against time. One shop in London had closed before he could get there, he told the paper.

Since late last year, the coffee chain has shuttered hundreds of stores due to the weak economy, and it's causing 37-year-old Winter a bit of stress. Since 1997, Winter has been slowly going down the checklist of all of the Starbucks in the world, and according to his Web site , he's visited 8,414 stores in North America and 664 internationally. His journey has been documented in the film " Starbucking ."

He goes by "Winter," claims to have visited 9,078 Starbucks stores and is having to shell out a lot of cash to get to the rest before they close their doors.

The Wall Street Journal had a story Sunday about how Winter spent $1,400 to get to a Starbucks in Prince George, B.C., before it closed last month.