Inside Starbucks New Stealth Store: 15th Avenue E Coffee and Tea
This article originally appeared on PSFK.com.
A couple of weeks ago, there was a lot of buzz generated by the news that Starbucks was looking to explore new store layouts and designs and even considering dropping the brand name from certain locations. The plan is to create new environments that will try to re-explore the spirit of a traditional coffeehouse including the sale of wine and beer plus playing host to live music and poetry readings.
Last Friday, the Seattle based corporation opened 15th Avenue E Coffee and Tea - the first of these 'stealth stores'. Our PSFK spy got herself down to the cafe "inspired by Starbucks" and snapped some of these photos on her phone.
The look is vastly different from the the brand's standard. 15th Avenue E Coffee and Tea has a rustic but modern mix of wood and tin plus a celebration of coffee beans and tea leaves. Espressos will be made using a manual machine. If you didn't know it was Starbucks, you'd think you found a hidden neighborhood gem. And once you know it is Starbucks you have to give the brand a lot of kudos for giving their cafe experience a much needed jolt of caffeine.
Click here to see an exclusive image gallery of the store.
...To read more articles by Piers Fawkes, visit PSFK.com.
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I don't care what they call it.... it's greasy, bitter French Roast coffee at prices I laugh at.
anybody tried Mcdonalds iced coffee>?? -- they're great.
Starbucks is helping my son pay his way through college. They provide decent wages and health insurance as well as stock options and a host of benefits and many are offered to part time workers. I wish them well.
Big chain stores that mimic rustic, mom-n-pop operations as they put them out of business..
Make your own coffee at home!
Big chains are trying to mask their size..... I think it's just another corporate scam....
Everything they do is dishonest.
A few weeks ago there was an article about a nearby cafe that was furious with Starbucks for copying her decor. Why no mention of that??
This is a pretty sweet looking coffee shop, I wish we had a few in my town. Never mind the Starbucks haters, they are a bunch of Libertarians who are upset Starbucks employees are well-paid and given good benefits like low cost health insurance for part-time workers.
Why is this site so OBSESSED with Starbucks?
The only time I drink starbucks coffee willingly is on the turnpike down to Ft. Lauderdale because it's the only coffee at my halfway rest stop. Their coffee is strong and bitter and I have no idea why folks are so in love with them. Ever try 7/11 coffee? I love it. The fusion coffee is the best. I buy packs of it to brew at home. 1pk 99cents
In my neck of the woods, the saying goes, "Friends don't let friends go to Starbucks.
It's OK, if you're really jonesing for coffee and can't get a decent cup anywhere else. Otherwise, it's franchise that seeks to muscle out truly independent local coffeehouses of quality.
They haven't done it here. Instead, the independents have nosed them - and Caribou - out in several locations!
It looks like a copycat version of the Pain Quotidien franchise
You can easily tell it's a Starbucks. Just go in any time of the day, and ask them if they have decaf brewed. They'll tell you "no, but we can make you a decaf americano.
Then, you'll stand there for 5-6 minutes while ten other people whiz through the line and get immediate service. In the meantime, they have forgotten you are standing over there in the corner waiting for your lousy cup of coffee. Starbucks hates decaf drinkers. They are a waste of time for the purveyor of 'the worlds greatest coffees.'
Yes, that's Starbucks. And it sux.
what difference does manual machine made espresso vs. machine made, aren't the physics of the process the same??
No mention of the coffee? Is it any better than their typical over-roast
I like Starbucks coffee. It is reasonably priced ($2 for a 20oz freshly brewed cup of coffee is reasonable). If you don't like it, don't buy it. Starbucks has historically been a better than usual place for young people to work (my son worked at one for a couple of years and had a very good experience). And as far as I can tell the company has generally operated as if it has a conscience. They have also created much of the market they now occupy: in Philadelphia, for example, I know of no "local" coffeeshops that have been displaced by Starbucks. There may be some, but in general this is not like Wal-mart.
If they want to introduce a new approach to branding and style for certain shops, why not? People will choose it or shun it based on whether it meets their needs, same as ever (except for haters who will shun anything that doesn't pass their ever-fluid litmus tests). Thousands of corporations operate multiple chains under a variety of brand names, each aimed at slightly different market segments. Does anyone complain that Macaroni Grill and Friday's are part of the same parent company? Scion and Lexus? Dasani and Sprite? JC Penney and Eckerd Drugs?
I agree. I like Starbucks and they have a model of business that is very good to their workers. More companies should be worker friendly. Some people wouldn't be happy with them if they gave away free money. I live near a college town and there are always lots of college kids with computers working and chatting in the big cushy chairs.
Starbucks is an American company that employs American workers and even gives them - *gasp* health insurance!
I think that's a big plus in their favor.
STARBUCK's clearly don't get it - their chairs are like rocks, and last week, they took out a full-page
ad in The New York Times finally addressing those "pastries" that look like they have been in their
stores since 1980's. They talked about how they have new pastries - they don't.
And by the way they look exactly the same - like stuff that has been in those cases for years.
And now they want to bring "poetry" readings - they can't be serious. They don't get it on any
level - not on Design, not on Quality, not on "the experience" thing. And by the way, if you ask
for a cup - and actually cup - the people go into major confusion - searching all over the place
and finally finding that one lone cup - that no one would ever want to drink out of.
They need a complete total make-over - on every level.
And don't ask for decaf coffee, unless you want to be made to feel like a diseased pariah.
I miss the Cuban coffee on 8th avenue and 15th street NYC. Cost me 1.00 a cup. Better than any Starmuck's.
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