Starbucks plans to unveil its biggest store in the world in NYC by 2018, a 20k SF shop modeled on the company’s Seattle roastery of only 15k SF.
The company styles the new digs as “coffee-as-theater”—a super-sensory experience where the company roasts small batches of rare coffees, and customers can chat with baristas about brewing and sourcing.
“In New York we want to take elements from what we originally created and build something even bigger and bolder,” Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz tells the New York Times.
According to Arlene Spiegel, a Manhattan restaurant and retail consultant, Starbucks' move to bring a roastery to NYC is its way of standing out from the competition.
“What they have to do is reinforce their dominance as a premium coffee supplier and this is how they do it,” Arlene says. [NYT]
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