Maybe not the growth stock it used to be ... but reports of Starbucks demise are greatly exaggerated.

Every store I've been in over the last few months  - that's a sample set of several dozen - is still packed, credit crunch or not.

And any Wall Street type who really believes the McDs or Dunkin D are newly-direct competitors is obviously smoking something rather than actually drinking the coffee. That doesn't mean McD or DD won't sell more so-called premium coffee - but they won't be selling it to Starbucks' customer base. If Trader Joe's opened a store in Paris, they may be selling more Charles Shaw, but nobody would seriously suggest Paulliac is suddenly facing increased competition.