Do you know how many Starbucks locations are contained within the Loop?  The gourmet coffee chain’s prevalence inside this 0.24 square mile area of Chicago’s business district gives new meaning to the phrase “on every corner”.  On Wednesday afternoon, March, 19th, 2014, Pushpinder, Dhawal, and I set out to take a #selfie in front of all 18.  That’s right: one eight.

Background

The three of us were about through exploring The Shops at North Bridge shortly before noon.  We were stumped on what should be our next adventure.  Our Amtrak train was not scheduled to depart from Union Station until 5:45 PM, leaving us several free hours.  We were hoping to stay in the downtown area and preferably find something that was outdoors, cheap, and, most importantly, fun!  Everyone had really enjoyed our breakfast at Starbucks in Wrigleyville that morning, so coffee was not far removed from our minds.  During our walking about downtown, our group had already commented on how there seemed to be a Starbucks on every corner.  I had tweeted the same observation during my September 2013 trip to Chicago.  All of this came together when, suddenly, Dhawal said, “We could take a picture in front of every Starbucks!”  I immediately responded with my “this sounds ridiculous and useless, but doable and awesome” face.  Obviously, a goal like this would need a well-defined boundary.  Fortunately, Chicago’s transit system provides this quite elegantly.  Enter: the Loop.  This circuit of elevated track services the Orange, Green, Purple, Brown, and Pink lines of the CTA rapid transit system.  The keyword which made it even more usable: elevated.  You can plainly see what is inside the loop (Wells to Wabash W->E, Lake to Van Buren N->S) versus what is not.  I pulled up my Starbucks app on my phone to see approximately how many Starbucks locations were inside this region.  The count: 18.  Those inside the marked region of the map below became our master list.

We made the decision to not count a Starbucks on the outside side of one of the boundary streets.  The only other rule needed was that we should all be in each photo.  While Dhawal had a nice DSLR with him, my HTC One’s front cam was decided upon as the camera of choice.  We would all become quite familiar with its 3 second count down and face-skewing effects over the next 4 hours.

The Quest

I just sat down to write this section.  I have no succinct thoughts.  I could use some coffee.  Where is the nearest Starbucks? I wish I was still in the Loop!  We crossed the Chicago River from the north on State Street and headed towards our first ‘bucks.  The plan was to start in the northeast corner and work our way across the north side.  Quite easily, almost too easily, we found…

1. Leo Burnett Starbucks, 40 W. Lake Street

   Right out of the gate on our lofty quest, we were faced with a moral quandary.  The pin for this Starbucks on the map was inside the Loop, but the location was on the outside side of Lake Street.  Just minutes before, we had decided to not count this, though this had been with thought process of considering pins that were also outside the Loop.  For completion, we felt we had to include this.  You always would rather do too much, than too little, right?  One could argue that the final number would then be only 17, but then again, who cares?  We were taking selfies in front of coffee shops.

   

2. CT&T Building Starbucks, 161 N. Clark Street

   Just around the corner, our second photo was easily captured.  There was no question as to whether this one was inside the Loop or not.  You have to wonder how this location got left behind when the logos were upgraded, but we were feeling pretty good.  Little did we know it, but in this shot we arrived at our go-to formula of me in the center and holding the camera high (instead of low, like in the big-nosed first photo).  Plus, we got to explore the atrium of the Thompson Center across the street, an awesome building we would have never discovered if we hadn’t started this quest!

   

3. Lake & LaSalle Starbucks, 180 N. LaSalle Street

   Early on, we were still developing our strategies for locating each store.  We had noticed that there were a similarly large number of Dunkin’ Donuts, so Pushpinder established the rule of just looking for Dunkin’s instead to locate the likely Starbucks across the street.  It was actually successful in locating Lake & LaSalle!  As Dhawal indicates, number three had just been checked off!  Maybe next time we’ll take selfies in front of all the Dunkin’s outside the Loop.

   

4. Randolph & Wells Starbucks, 171 W. Randolph Street

   Randolph & Wells gave us no trouble to spot and capture.  If we had known what was headed our way, we would have treasured the simplicity of this photo more than we did.  Look at those faces and smiles; bright-eyed and bushy-tailed would be an understatement.

   

5. 30 N. LaSalle Starbucks, 30 N. LaSalle Street

   30 N. LaSalle was a bit tricky to spot due to it’s lack of an awning or large exterior entrance, but just like that, we were finished with our first five locations.  Had the first location’s signage been back-lit like this one, we may have quit right there due to non-ideal imaging conditions.  Fortunately, Starbucks respects proper exposures and would employ only unlit corporate markings for the rest of their Loop locations.  Now, we were ready to head back east for the first time!

   

6. West Washington Starbucks, 111 W. Washington Street

   On the south side of Washington street, we easily located our sixth store.  Again, this one was was still adorned with old logo mounts, but we were on a roll.  Any other day, we would have probably gone to joked about going to the Grub Hub, but not today!  We had one goal in mind!

   

7. Daley Center Plaza Starbucks, 66 W. Washington Street

   By this time, I had begun cross-checking the Starbucks map pin location with the listing on Google Maps.  By the name of this location being “Daley Center Plaza” and not an intersection, we assumed it was in some sort of building atrium.  However, we were looking into the lobby of the Daley Center and no Starbucks was jumping out at us.  There was a staircase which led into what we thought may be an underground food court, but the entrance was blocked.  We were having thoughts that the end of the quest might be near.  As a last resort, we consulted the Yelp listing for this location.  We were eternally indebted to Jenna S. for mentioning in her review that “This Starbucks is carefully hidden at the end of the Daley Plaza Pedway to the Blue Line…”  We quickly found another staircase near the Blue Line entrance and proceeded earthward.  What we discovered was a crowded office exchange complete with security-guarded tributaries and lots of business-class individuals.  Acting like we belonged, we finally stumbled across the location.  Knowing that photography indoors (typically, private locations) is frowned upon much more than street photography, we quickly lined into place, anxiously waited our front cam requisite 3 seconds, shared a nod, and started off.  A janitor saw me putting my phone away and said, “You can’t take photos here.”  He was simply being a helpful soul though, because when I apologized, he said, “I don’t mind, but I know they don’t want it”, as we passed one of the Daley Center security checkpoints.  Relieved to be finished with number 7, we quickly scurried back up the rabbit hole.

   

8. Macys – Chicago/Lower Level Starbucks, 111 N. State Street, Marshall Fields Department Store

   We were hoping this location would be number 9.  However, locating both of the Macy’s locations proved exceptionally difficult, almost as difficult as coming up with a legit reason for wanting to take selfies in front of 18 Starbucks.  Macy’s on State is a massive 12-story establishment and listed Starbucks locations on both its first and lower levels.  The store directory confirmed this, but no floor plans were present to provide further aid.  Since we saw a downward-leading escalator, we hoped on and found the lower level location awaiting us at the bottom.  The unspoken pose instructions must have been “raise your eyebrows”.

   

9. Macys – Chicago/First Floor Starbucks, 111 N. State Street, The Miracle Mile – Marshall Fields

   Proceeding back upstairs, we resorted to asking a Macy’s employee to point us towards the first floor Starbucks.  After being directed to the only spot on the entire first floor we had yet to comb, we were able flank the joint to capture a straightforward outside photo.  This location made us realize an interesting point: except for our quest, there was no almost reason to inquire about the location of a particular Starbucks in the loop.  If you can’t locate the one you were looking for, all you have to do is walk another block and you will catch a whiff of Starbucks distinctive fresh brew.  Naturally, you need to be at the right location if you are meeting someone (unless it is your mother-in-law; then you can say, “Macy’s first floor?! I totally thought we were meeting in the Macy’s basement!”).  However, if all you want is a Grande Caffè Americano, the Loop is a good place to be.

   

10. East Washington Starbucks, 25 E. Washington Boulevard

    The East Washington location was cake, as we had seen it out the window of Macy’s while we were searching aimlessly around its first floor.  We were pretty tired by this point, but apparently not too tired to take our first photo with a variation, lots of which would follow.  While writing this, I noticed my jacket collar is uniformly non-uniform in all of the first ten photos.  Lunch at the Macy’s cafeteria would provide a jacket reset, as you can confirm beginning in photo at store #11.  By this point, the difficulty of locating stores 7 through 10 had us a little fatigued.  If we weren’t having a good time, there was no reason to continue, because, as we joked throughout the quest, “what we are doing is completely useless”.  It’s usefulness was derived entirely from us enjoying being goofy in an exciting environment like the Chicago Loop, and we vowed to come back from lunch with that attitude renewed.

    

11. Palmer House Hilton Starbucks, 17 E. Monroe Street

    Energized from our lunch break, we were hyped and ready to knock out our last eight locations.  We decided on a north-south zig-zag working our way west to finish up near Union Station.  There were now 3 hours before we needed to catch the train.  We had begun casually mentioning how we would relax with a Venti cup of Pike Place Roast at the last location.  It was similar to how my Boy Scout patrol used to dream about downing a juicy burger after an exhausting camping trip; instead of hiking tens of miles up hills with a weekend’s worth of gear on our backs, we were walking around a city taking selfies in front of coffee shops.  I know, the similarity is striking.  This location being named “Palmer House Hilton” lead us inside a hotel lobby, where we passed a security guard who was standing very near the Starbucks entrance.  We casually circled all the way around the building to the alternate entrance to Starbucks, struck our pose, and were set.  We were hoping to start having more fun taking each photo, but in the indoor locations, we stuck to business.  ”Business” here refers to taking a selfie in front of a coffee shop.

    

12. State & Adams Starbucks, 131 S. State Street, Dearborn Center

    My Google Maps cross-checking had shown from Street View that this location would be very easy.  To add to the challenge, we decided to mix it up with an across-the-street selfie.  Fortunately, we captured some nice cheesing from Pushpinder and a pretty slick car blurring by in the background.  Had we waiting to employ the across-the-street scheme for the last location, one might have called the laziness card on us; since it was only no. 12 out of 18, the word that should come to mind is revolutionary.

    

13. Clark & Madison Starbucks, 70 W. Madison Street

    We decided to get really creative at Clark & Madison.  Almost in a chorus, Pushpinder and Dhawal chanted, “Let’s go in front of the Starbucks and you take the photo from across the street!”  This seemed like a great variation!  We were all set up.  They were in front of the store.  I was just pulling up my front cam.  All of a sudden, three fire engines (and accompanying sirens) proceed in between us, each about 30 seconds apart.  Alright, that had been a disturbance, but we were back!  With my high camera angle, it looked like I could even shoot over passing cars!  Here we……..[enter a CTA bus].  Alright, we can just wait for that bus to leave and….[enter a second bus, this one even longer and articulated].  It had been a great idea, but I simply crossed the street to join them.  New plan: everyone look away.  Having to simplify was a let down, but we were not going to let an accordion on wheels stand in between us and our goal!

    

14. Chase Tower Chicago Starbucks, 21 S. Clark Street

    Another inside location meant another no-frill operation.  Luckily, there was an open table in the Chase Tower atrium right outside the crowded Starbucks.  We sat down as if to relax, snapped a selfie, and were on our way.

    

15. LaSalle & Monroe Starbucks, 39 S. LaSalle Street

    LaSalle & Monroe looked like a classic street-corner Starbucks just asking for a creative selfie.  Construction on Monroe meant that active fire engines would probably not be routed down that street in the next five minutes, so we went for the both-sides-of-the-street pose.  Luckily, this store was not a booming transit hub like number 13 and we left chuckling proudly.  We had selfie’d the first five post-lunch locations in just 45 minutes!  We were really starting to smell those roasted dark beans of energy awaiting us at the finish line now!

    

16. West Adams Starbucks, 105 W. Adams Street

    A news kiosk in front of the West Adams location was a blessing in disguise.  We had already decided not to smile for the photo, but an awkward angle forced us to all to our left.  The result: a selfie which, in any other context context, would be a uniquely awkward and pointless photo.  Okay, so that describes it in this context too.

    

17. Bank of America Building Starbucks, 231 S LaSalle Street

    With only two Starbucks remaining, our success was starting to get to our heads.  An indoor location?  Sure, we can still strike a pose!  We were brought back to Earth a bit when it took a second try to take this photo correctly.  Yes, we were only one Starbucks away from taking a selfie in front of all 18 loop locations, but we were still human and this episode reminded us of this.

    

18. Van Buren Starbucks, 175 W. Jackson Boulevard

    The 18th and final location was an elusive one.  It’s pin was literally in the middle of a building, so we had to just pick a side and traverse, in the worst case, the entire block.  Even with a Jackson Boulevard address, which was for the entire building, the Starbucks was on Van Buren facing the ‘L’ track.  This Street View shows just how near the border of our range of interest this location actually was.  There was no question for our pose for this one: thumbs up all the way.

    

Aftermath

We had just taken a selfie in front of all 18 Starbucks in the Loop!  While we hoped we would feel like this…

...in reality, we felt like this...

We wanted to relax at the last location, but the Van Buren store and the few before it were not very conducive to sitting.  We were understandable though; the Chicago Loop coffee market is driven by those grabbing a cup of joe on their way to work, so small stores make sense.  There was another potential location just a block away, so we settled on 209 W. Jackson as our celebration station.  While the first ten selfies had taken 2 hours, the last eight locations were completed in just a single revolution of an hour hand.  During our 90-minute respite, there was an occasional mutter of, “What did we just do?”, but it was always followed by something along the lines of, “I don’t know, but it was awesome!”  Below is our original master map, now with the addition of our afternoon route.  It’s not hard to tell which Starbucks were the most difficult to find: #7 (come on, Daley Center!) and #9 (Macy’s, isn’t the ‘bucks in the basement enough?).

The adventure and resulting accomplishment left us in great spirits as stepped outside into the Chicago rush hour.  We had turned a potentially boring (browsing more malls), or expensive (dining at a nice restaurant), or both (going to a museum), afternoon into one that was priceless.  We all had a blast exploring the Loop and doing something that had no intrinsic value (if you are reading this and are an interested advertiser, please drop me a line) with people who enjoyed the same types of experiences.  As we walked to Union Station, hoards of homeward-bound downtown employees shared the sidewalk with us.  Many of them had spent the day helping grow the GDP of America’s third largest metro area; we had taken a selfie in front of 18 Starbucks.  One thing was the same: we had all taken advantage of Chicago and the unique offerings of its bustling downtown Loop.  Until next time, Windy City…