BUSINESS BUZZ: Mom-and-Pop stores should continue to cower in fear as this live map demonstrates the frighteningly rapid growth of America’s most ubiquitous superstore. Why do we feel so much less dirty shopping at Costco? Two words: free samples.

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The Best Links:

1. See Wal-Mart Grow!

FOOD BUZZ: But only for three hours. All American locations were shut down temporarily so that employees could, in the words of one mocking headline, “learn how to make coffee.” Hopefully, anti-Starbucks crusader Reverend Billy enjoyed his brief respite from battling the tyranny of burnt-tasting java and pleasing adult-contemporary sounds. But he’ll have to regroup to fight the chain’s sinister “phase two of operation.”

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The Best Links:

1. A Nation Briefly Without Starbucks
2. Starbucks Closes to Learn How to Make Coffee
3. Starbucks To Begin Sinister “Phase Two” Of Operation
4. Starbucks Closed? Dunkin’ Donuts to the Rescue!
5. Coffee Confessions (Reverend Billy, If You’re Listening, Can I Get a Hallelujah?)
6. Media Alert: Starbucks Closes Between 5:30 and 9:00 P.M. On Tuesday to Perfect the Art of Espresso
7. Why This Man Hates Starbucks: Coffee Talk With Reverend Billy
8. Starbucks Baristas Question Substance of National Shutdown for “Training”

FOOD BUZZ: Apple extract, plain caramel coloring, coffee leaf, tantaric acid, gum arabic, cane sugar and sparkling water combine to make Pepsi’s less fizzy, “healthy” new beverage, which has made its debut in England. You know what would go great with Pepsi Raw? Some free-range Twinkies or maybe some grass-fed Dipsy Doodles.

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The Best Links:

1. Cola Companies Battle to See Who Can Make the Most Successful “Healthy” Soda
2. New And Exciting Products: Cane Sugar Pepsi “Raw” Launches In The UK Only
3. Video Taste Test: Can You Tell “Natural” Pepsi From the Original?
4. Cane Sugar Reduces Calorie Content by 30 Whole Calories!
5. Will Coca-Cola Try To Come Up With Its Own Natural Cola?
6. Someone! Anyone! Give Us a Taste Reoirt!
7. Only Available For Now in the UK