Starbucks is spending $1B to spruce up its vast portfolio with cozy seats and decor to lure customers into staying and smelling the coffee.
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The coffee chain giant is renovating up to 9,000 stores in North America by replacing its typical interiors with leather armchairs, rugs and hardback books so they feel more like a community lounge, Financial Times reported.
The initiative juxtaposes an increase in drive-thru-fueled expansions with a focus on getting customers in and out with their coffee as quickly as possible.
“The world is coming back to this, being in a place and meeting with humans, not being distant,” Senior Vice President Dawn Clark told FT.
Starbucks avoids temporary closures by completing the "uplifts," which cost roughly $150K per store, overnight, Starbucks Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Catherine Smith said on the company's third-quarter earnings call in July.
Starbucks has added roughly 25,000 chairs, Clark told FT, and has already surpassed its goals to uplift more than 1,000 coffeehouses by the end of 2026, which it announced last year.
Starbucks, which has a global footprint of more than 41,000 shops, is now planning to complete 1,500 renovations by the end of 2026 and will accelerate that effort through 2027, CEO Brian Niccol said on the earnings call.
"We continue to improve the third place experience with coffeehouse uplifts, adding back warmth, texture and great seats at a fraction of the cost of earlier remodels," Niccol said in the call.
The company has been pursuing a plan to save $2B over the next two years and improve profitability.
Last year, Starbucks announced that it would close more than 400 stores and lay off executive employees following a portfolio review. The plan to uplift stores is also part of the plan to boost profitability.
Store sales in the U.S. have increased nearly 8% in the company's third quarter, but consolidated net revenues decreased 1% to $9.3B, according to the company's third-quarter fiscal year 2026 results.
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