Starbucks goes bigger - and beer and wine are just around the corner.
Last week, the coffee giant opened the doors to its first Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in the Capital Hill neighborhood of Seattle, the flagship location for what executives envision as a chain of at least 100 new high-end stores selling only the company’s limited reserve coffee.
With two coffee bars, a restaurant, a coffee roastery, a library and theater, the enormous new location in Seattle is where the company will now roast, bag and ship more than 1 million pounds of its Reserve line of coffee products to outlets around the world. Other similar stores are set to be built in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in 2015.
The interactive Roastery and Tasting Room offers unobstructed views into the process of coffee roasting and brewing.
“We have designed a space that will heighten all the senses. This is a real-life Willy Wonka experience with coffee as the heart and soul, where customers will see coffee being moved through the roasting process right before their eyes,” said Liz Muller, vice president, creative and global design for Starbucks. “We have opened up the world of sourcing, roasting and brewing so that our customers at any one point are only feet away from the theater and artistry in a sophisticated yet relaxed environment. Each visit will bring new discoveries while setting the standard for what customers can expect for the future of retail.”
Starbucks also made clear it plans to make beer and wine available in as many as 25 percent of its U.S. units over the next five years.