The Bankview Starbucks, 14 St and 25 Ave, is still around, as is the one in Britannia. Neither have drive-thrus. And the Bridgeland one, which had the world's slowest drive-thru, and the one near Carriage House Inn on MacLeod which also had a drive-thru, did close. (Yes, I do drink a lot of Starbucks)
My suspicion was that Starbucks couldn't make it in urban locations like Kensington and Beltline because when given the choice, urban customers would rather support the independent shop around the block. But in inner-city suburban Britannia, Starbucks can coexist with Monogram.
IDK. Maybe you are right though, and Starbucks does prefer drive-thru locations. Two of the most recent ones to open that I've been aware of have been on Macleod (near 53rd and then near 71st-ish), and were drive-thrus.