Ever get asked by tourists where they can find the nearest cup of coffee or tea? 

You probably reply with your favorite small coffee shop/tea house just a couple of blocks from your location, only to be disappointed when they really want to know where the nearest Starbucks is. 

However, you probably didn't go home and analyze data from the entire borough of Manhattan to determine exactly how far you have to walk in order to hit one of the city's major chains, though this guy did just that.

Blogger, Aleksey Bilogur, saw a story about how a Reddit user was asked (in a roundabout way) by tourists where the nearest Starbucks was. 

Recognizing the fact that the chain is pretty much in walking distance no matter where you are in Manhattan, he decided to test exactly how far, on average, the nearest Starbucks is from any location. 

Using a code to determine the area of every chain restaurant on Yelp, Bilogur compiled the data to coordinate each spot on a map of Manhattan. 

He then calculated the average distance by mapping 2,000 random locations in Manhattan and then measuring the smallest distance between each point and a list of chain locations, and then taking the average of that list to determine the average distance between any random location and that chain. 

He found that if you are anywhere in Manhattan, you are (on average) only 1335 feet away from a Starbucks. That's about five streets considering that the average street block is 264 feet. 

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Rather than stopping with the analysis of Starbucks, Bilogur continued his data crunch with some popular chains in Manhattan, including Subway, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonalds, RiteAid, Chipotle, etc. 

In fact, Subway seems to be the closest chain, with an average distance of 4.8 streets. Dunkin' Donuts comes in second, with an average 5.3 blocks, and Starbucks an average 5.6. 

Check out the compilation of Bilogur's data below.


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Via Aleksey Bilogur

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[via Aleksey Bilogur] [Feature Image Courtesy Instagram] 

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