Few owners of small coffee shops and cafes will be upset by the crisis of recent confidence within the ubiquitous Starbucks chain.

Many of its once trendy looking outlets now appear to be shabby. Its products no longer look original. Founder Howard Schultz has returned as CEO after eight years to try to breathe life back into the organisation. Starbucks is asking its customers for ideas and – unlike most of these consultations – acting on their suggestions.

Yet the problem is deeper than individual products. It was the novelty of the “Starbucks experience” that made built the chain – which is also why it is doomed to decline.

For most of us, our first visit to a Starbucks – whether on a visit to the States or when one opened in our home country – was like nothing we had experienced before. It was like a leap across the decades on to the set of Frasier. The customer was treated as if he was a sophisticated cosmopolitan, there to indulge his broad tastes in an environment where he could work and socialise in comfort.

However, the business that lives by novelty dies by novelty.

To be new is itself a competitive advantage, but, by definition, temporary. As soon as the initial impact wears off, so does the advantage. The “Starbucks experience” is no longer much of an experience because we are too used to it, and to its numerous competitors.

Among those competitors – possibly now just a small local business – may be the next big new thing, destined to live and die by its novelty.