Starbucks new concept store, 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea.
I admit it. I like following the Starbucks story. A few days ago, the New York Times ran a story featuring their latest concept in retail (shown above), which includes selling beer (did I read that right?). Then today I saw a report that their instant coffee, Via, was selling well (and I can't believe I read that, either).Regardless of what you think of ol' Starbucks, what they have accomplished is incredible and may never be repeated in the retail food business again. The numbers: 20 years / 15,000 stores / 10 billion dollar annual revenue. Not too shabby.
I have been a critic in the last couple of years, but they deserved it. Their latest, always-on-tap Pike's Place coffee is terrible, -- but more to the point, they built too many stores, over-extended their product line, and they were hemorrhaging cash.
Founder, Howard Schultz has returned in the hopes of turning things around. And things are looking up a bit. They are encouraged by the success of Via Instant, which I thought was a bad idea, but which was a profitable part of an otherwise unprofitable year. They have their Clover machine being tested, which, rumor has it, makes a fantastic espresso, and they even have redesigned stores like the one picture above, that are doing well.
I'll always support the locally-owned coffee shop, but for some reason, their life expectancy is pretty limited around here. Let's hope the folks at House do well, Starbucks' success or not.
2 comments:
So I tried some Via... and I tell you what, if I didn't french press every day, I would have a box of those sitting around for when I couldn't get to the drive through (3 blocks away :: grin ::)
Also, as many times as I've been by the shops in NYC that have the Clover machine, I haven't tried it. I hear great things though!
We'll see what happens... I think they still have a viable business, I don't think that McDonald's and their McCafe went as far as they had hoped...
Jake ---I guess I need to try Via again. My first experience was not good. I look for a Starbucks rebound, like when Jobs returned to Apple. People forget, they were on the ropes, now look at them.
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