Today (September 9, 2011) marks the grand opening of an all new Starbucks in downtown Seattle.  It is a Clover store, and is located on the corner of 4th and Union.  It opened at 5:00 a.m. and I managed to be the first customer in the door!  This block has some interesting Seattle history.  Once upon a time, the White-Henry-Stuart Building stood here.  In 1974, it was demolished for the construction of the Rainier Tower which  is now on this block.  I have a previous blog post here which has a section about this Seattle history.

I had walked past the store several times as it was under construction too.  The address of this new store is as follows:

Starbucks store #15625
1418 – Fourth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682 1139

 

On August 30, 2011, I snapped this photo:

And then on September 2, 2011, again walking by this store, I took a couple of photos with my phone of the locked store under construction.

At 5:00 a.m. this morning, here’s what the exterior of the store looked like:

I snapped a number of photos inside the store, though the earliest photos before the sun is up all look a little dark.  I stayed for quite a while in the store chatting with people I knew.  One partner transferred to that store from a store that I frequently visit, and the District Manager was there too.  I started my day with an oatmeal and a tall Honduras Premier from the Clover.  This store is not fantastically huge, but it’s in a very central downtown location, and it is a well-thought out space!  I met a ton of new people.  All the partners seemed very friendly!

Here are a few pics to enjoy!  (I took all the photos below today, September 9, 2011, between about 5:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.)