Starbucks has been the subject of punch lines about chain store ubiquity at least since the summer of 1998, when The Onion, a satirical newspaper, ran a headline about the opening of a new Starbucks inside the restroom of an existing one. Shares have since gone from hitting new highs to hitting much higher ones, a plunge during the Great Recession notwithstanding. Investors who held straight through have made about five times their money -- not bad for a chain that was already everywhere.