We Get Letters: If a Starbucks Opens in the Middle of a Giant, Does Anyone Hear the Latte Machine?

Sean weighs in with one of those if-a-tree-falls-in-the-middle-of-the-forest questions:

I have a question that I feel only you can solve or explain. The North Point Giant is completing a major renovation which will include a Starbucks within the store. However, there is already a Starbucks within the North Point Village Center less than 50 yards from Giant. My question is why are there going to be two Starbucks so close to each other? Is the stand alone Starbucks closing?

We visited said Giant earlier in the week, and the Mini-Starbucks inside is now fully operational, generating a constant stream of foamy beverages for its clientele. So, too, is the regular Starbucks that's about 50 feet away. So what's the difference? Does the original one, with its abundant outdoor seating, cater to North Reston's idle flaneurs, while its smaller sibling serves the diaspora of Giant's former Tall Oaks clientele, so pressed by the added drive time that they don't have time for the full-service experience whilst picking up their Super G cola? Is one store the vente store and the other one the grande store? Do they both have the same watered-down, has-been CDs on offer, or do they split the lame jazz vs. lame pop aficionados?

We have no answers. Just more questions, an endless Mobius strip of lifestyle-branded drinks, stucco facades and earth tones. Mostly earth tones, though. Mostly earth tones.