Maybe the caffeine keeps him going.
John Winter Smith didn't just awaken one morning and decide to visit every Starbucks in the world. As he puts it, "It built up steam gradually."
Smith, 30, said his mission may have been sparked by a conversation with a Starbucks employee about the company's plan to have 2,000 stores by 2000.
By January 1998, he was scanning phonebooks in search of uncharted Starbucks. In August 1999, he hopscotched across the US and Canada for three weeks, taking time out only to attend a few concerts.
In late 1999 he started a Web site, delighted with a Starbucks manager's suggestion that he photograph each store and post the pictures.
And, no, he says, the stores are not all the same. Even though they share standard design elements, at least one item -- maybe a lamp or wall design -- differs slightly. Some display local artwork or incorporate design elements from a pre-existing building.
As of April, Smith had visited about 2,850 stores. The constantly expanding Starbucks chain has about 3,630 company-operated stores worldwide -- and plans to open at least another 625 this year.
Since Smith began calculating his expenses in 2000, he has spent about US$6,479 for gas, hotel expenses (when he doesn't sleep in his car), parking, tolls, equipment and, of course, coffee.
"I've always been a little strange. This is just an extension of that," he said. "My father just thinks I'm nuts."
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