Traveler’s Starbucks quest leads him to Lawrence
A man attempting to drink coffee at every company-operated Starbucks Coffee Company store in the world stopped in Lawrence on Sunday night to check another store off his ever-growing list of Starbucks locations.
The coffee connoisseur, who goes by the single name Winter, ordered a drink at the new store at 4701 W. Sixth St.
“The ultimate purpose is to drink a coffee from every store. … That is the single most important, paramount rule,” he said.
The visit to Lawrence wasn’t his first — he visited the downtown store at Seventh and Massachusetts streets in 2001 and 2007.
When Winter first began his Starbucks-drinking mission in 1997, there were only about 1,500 company-operated Starbucks locations, he said.
Now, there are more than 17,000 Starbucks locations around the globe.
“Obviously I had no idea at the time they’d expand out to what they are,” Winter said.
He’s had a cup of coffee, or at least a sample, at more than 11,000 stores — nearly 8,900 in the U.S. and more than 2,200 international shops, according to his website.
Winter, who is originally from Texas, also visited a recently opened Starbucks in Overland Park, at 3807 W. 95th St., during his trip to Kansas.
The stores are the first two company-operated Starbucks locations to open in Kansas in nearly five years, Winter said.
To follow Winter’s Starbucks journey, visit his website starbuckseverywhere.net.