Starbucks Adds Public Plazas to All its Stores and Sees Profits Soar

Mar 31, 2008
May 1, 2024

SEATTLE-- When the ubiquitous coffee chain Starbucks saw its dominance of the global latte market declining last year, the Seattle-based firm launched a bold move that will go down in the annals of business innovation. Long aware that the active ingredient in its success was sociability more than caffeine, Starbucks announced in September that it would install a public plaza outside most of its 15,000 stores worldwide.

Industry insiders scoffed when company chairman Howard Schultz declared, “And when we say public squares, we mean public squares! You can bring in your own latte from Peet’s, Caribou or your local independent coffee shop. You also can gather signatures for petitions or wave protest signs.”

Yet public response was immediate—and overwhelming. Espresso, tea and scone revenues climbed 619 percent within the first week at Starbucks locations outfitted with the new plazas. And, curiously, sales at independently owned coffee shops also tripled in neighborhoods with Starbucks plazas.

The first plaza opened in a what has been a parking lot next door to a Starbucks in downtown Kokomo, Indiana, quickly followed by a store in a San Diego strip mall, where an adjacent tanning parlor was fashioned into an outdoor frappucino garden, and a store in the heart of Naples, which was outfitted with a rooftop piazza and a fountain.

The once-barren sidewalk in front of this Starbucks in downtown El Paso is now a lively public plaza, sparking a business renaissance along the block.

One of the surprising financial benefits of the new policy came in the huge success of the Starbucks-owned record label Hear Music, which has signed more than 300 artists first discovered busking in the new plazas. Sixteen of the top 20 songs downloaded from iTunes and other online music sources during the first two months of the year were artists on the Hear music label, including the mega-hit “Java Java Jive” by Barney and the Baristas.

PPS senior vice-president Kathleen Madden explained the company’s success this way: “Public gathering spots are essential to the life of any community. Starbuck has just reminded us how true this is.”

Meanwhile, McDonalds announced plans yesterday to add public playgrounds and meditation gardens to more than 80 percent of all its stores—following the lead of Dairy Queen, Wendy’s, Quiznos, Jimmy John’s, and Popeyes Fried Chicken.

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Heading One

Heading Two

Heading Three

Heading Four

Heading Five
Heading Six

Body Text    Body Link

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Here is some highlighted text from the article.
Caption
Caption
Caption
Caption

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

  • Bulleted List Item 1 Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
  • Bulleted List Item 2 Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
  1. Ordered List Item 1
  2. Ordered List Item 2
Comments
Related Articles

Contact Us

Want to unlock the potential of public space in your community? Get in touch!