Much of Americana suburbia was completely lacking in both coffee establishments, and in the kind of semi-public lounge space that Starbucks provides.

The "Starbucks destroys local competition" argument comes very loudly from the few places in the US that actually had coffee shops.

And, from what I experienced in the Ann Arbor, MI area, one of the reasons for Starbuck's success was the fact that it made better coffee (at least by my tastes) and had a better social environment than the competition.

It wasn't a better financed but generally inferior competitor - it was a better financed and generally equivalent competitor.