Today (Jan., 2, 2012) is the grand opening day for the most recent Starbucks location in Seattle.  It’s a beautiful 1800 square foot store in the South Lake Union neighborhood, and features a Clover, tall ceilings, friendly partners, and is slated to have beer and wine some time in the spring of this year.  I dropped by today and met up with the store’s manager, Janet, who knows me already from the Olive Way Starbucks.  She is absolutely wonderful. Janet is coffee-passionate, friendly, and knowledgeable.

This new store was designed in a similar vein to the Brewery Blocks Starbucks in Portland, Oregon, which is one of my favorite of the newer design styles.  It has a wall made from bicycle tubes, all sourced from local businesses.  I like the siren painted onto the wall.  There are few things I want to point out about this store.  The ceilings give you the impression you’re in a space much larger than its actual physical footprint, and Starbucks has wall murals, and/or wall art nearly all the way to the top of the ceilings.  Here’s a couple of photos kind of demonstrating the tall ceilings:

This store also has a very unique design when it comes to the pastry case, and the display of the ready-to-eat bistro boxes, and other refrigerated food offerings.  The pastry case is separate from the cold lunch  food, which is in a case embedded into a wall.  By the way, behind that wall is a very short hallway, the store’s community board, and access to the restrooms.

There already is a twitter page, in case you want to follow.  The ASM, Sarah, is the store’s official twitter voice:

Twitter profile for Starbucks at Terry and Republican

I attached a number of photos below so you can tour the store.  I noticed that this Starbucks has one of the copper-toned Clover machines, which I think is a very nice finishing touch.  Not all the Starbucks have that style (color) of Clover, and I think it is a nice finishing touch because it matches the look of the Mastrena espresso machine.

There is a small seating area in the very back of the store behind the espresso bar area, but it was too crowded with customers for any great photos of that area. However, I just want to point out that there is a little more seating than what it looks like at first glance, when you enter in the front doors.

The mural immediately behind the pastry case wall is a gorgeous floor to ceiling custom mural made just for this location.  I don’t have any great photos of it because of the narrow space and odd angle to try and photograph it.  But if you do visit this store, that’s something that should not be missed!

If you want to visit, here’s the address:

Starbucks store #15407
442 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, WA
(206) 467 4945

The store is located on the corner of Terry and Republican, and not far from the South Lake Union Trolley streetcar, which appears to run almost directly in front of the store.  Please come by and say hello to Janet (the store manager), Sarah (the ASM), and everyone else on this great team!

Enjoy the photos!