Starbucks plans to bring the coffeehouse vibe back into its stores. This "Back to Starbucks" initiative was first announced by Starbucks chairman and chief executive officer Brian Niccol when he joined the company a year ago.
“We’re refocusing on what has always set Starbucks apart — a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather, and where we serve the finest coffee, handcrafted by our skilled baristas,” he said then.
While the coffee giant plans to roll out this redesign to 1,000 coffeehouses by the end of 2026, locations in New York City and Southern California have already taken the plunge.
Dawn Clark, Starbucks senior vice president of coffeehouse design and concepts said that after the first coffeehouses were redesigned in New York earlier this year as part of a pilot, she and her team took time to sit in them and think about how these intimate spaces could become a part of the experience for every coffeehouse.
“We sat in each store and asked ourselves, ‘What could we keep? What’s great about this? What’s the history of this place? What is this community like?’” says Dawn Clark, Starbucks senior vice president of coffeehouse design and concepts. “At that point it felt like we had a whole new approach to design, which was much more rooted in our heritage and will create an experience that is more richly sensorial.”
Key design features of this rollout include softer seating, localized design and a redesigned espresso bar that offers a view of the baristas at work.
NYC Union Square East
Images courtesy of Starbucks
The redesign plans to warm up their classic industrial ambience by adding textures, paint, art, furniture and plants. The NYC Union East store, for example, offers a hand-painted mural bringing the outdoors into Manhattan, in Starbucks' branded shades, of course.
NYC Park Row at Beekman
Even throughout the same city, store designs vary from location to location. The effect is a hyper-localized design that invites customers to have a preferred neighborhood or aesthetic, while still providing them with a classic-Starbucks experience.
NYC 93rd & Second
Pick up was a primary focus of the redesign, offering more dedicated open spaces to reduce congestion and make a clearer distinction between customers who are staying or picking up an order. Additionally, pick up risers are being introduced to make it easier for customers to find their order.
LA Sunset & Palisades
Features like rugs and gallery walls are being tested in some stores. Los Angeles’ Sunset & Palisades store, for example, features a gallery wall of nature-inspired prints.
New-build locations will prioritize lobby and seating options while decreasing the overall footprint of the space. This store design is currently in development and on schedule to open doors late next year.
