I was going to take a short break from blogging, but I just can’t stop. It’s so easy to keep writing.
Starbucks Christmas Blend chalkboard art:
I want to introduce a wonderful Starbucks shift supervisor named Scott, who is am amazingly talented artist. I love his chalkboard art for this year’s Christmas Blend coffee:
In all honestly, I have no idea why the Starbucks headquarters hasn’t snatched up his talent to put to use in their design studios. The SSC should snatch him up! He is a very nice guy and passionate about Starbucks. There have been previous occasions where I’ve featured his chalkboard art on this site. The first was his Christmas Blend art from last year, and then later, I featured his art for the Indivisible promotion. And then again, I featured his Anniversary Blend art work in a larger article about partner art.
All of those pieces are hand-drawn by Scott, and have been on display at the Key Tower Starbucks in Seattle. I enjoy showcasing talent in Starbucks stores! Hope you enjoyed Scott’s art too.
Christmas Blend coffee is on sale December 20, 2012 through December 25, 2012:
I don’t know if all my readers know this, but I wanted to mention that Christmas Blend coffee is on sale right now. It’s $9.95 a pound (normally $14.95) from now through December 25, 2012. You can pick from any of the three kinds of Christmas Blend: 1) Espresso Christmas Blend 2) Blonde Roast Christmas Blend, and lastly, 3) the traditional roast Christmas Blend. If you happen to need more coffee at home, this is a good deal.
By the way, here in Seattle, it is likely that there will be several Starbucks stores open on Christmas Day, as always. You’ll find the Olive Way Starbucks open, First and Pike, Westlake Center, Fourth and Seneca, Pioneer Square, and a few more. Actually, I am puzzled that I’ve noticed signs on the doors of these stores indicating that they’re open 24 hours on Christmas. That makes no sense to me at all. I don’t recall them ever being open longer than normal hours on a holiday. I must be mistaken about that – I think I’ll go back and take a photo of the sign, and report back on this again. In any case, there are so many Starbucks in Seattle, that finding one open on Christmas is not difficult. So you can indeed go run and by Christmas Blend on Christmas Day.
Happy holidays all! I will try to take a little break from writing now.
Take care,
Melody
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I saw this Christmas Blend offering yesterday and will likely get another lb of Christmas espresso…. I was delaying buying it, for no reason, so will (hopefully) get it today.
re: Sbux open on Christmas Day…..personally I wish they were all closed. (along with many other unnecessary places that will be open) I guess if there are partners who really WANT to work…that’s fine, and I know there will always be people who stop in. But except for really ‘necessary’ places (hospitals, fire & police, etc)…. I think it’d be nice to have the ‘quiet’. Almost every Sbux around here, in fact all the ones I know, will be open Christmas Day..for some shortened hours.
@DeniseR – I probably live within a short distance of like 30 Starbucks, and I’d say that maybe 10 or so will be open. The only thing that was puzzling was the longer hours. I don’t worry about them being open – many don’t celebrate Christmas. And I know from previous years’ experiences, lots of partners from all over cover shifts. There are so many closed stores that baristas go cover at other stores. I get that this would be tougher in a city with fewer Starbucks.
Scott’s work is awesome as usual. Maybe he should be teaching chalk art to other baristas around the country. I will have to try to get out to pick up some Christmas Espresso before it’s gone. The Starbucks stores closest to me are closed on Christmas Day. Only one that is open is several miles north of me and they are super busy Christmas Day. It’s nice they are open for travelers, policemen, firefighters, etc. but hopefully no one is having to work that really doesn’t want to. I suppose there are some baristas that don’t celebrate Christmas that day or at all so they’d be okay with working.
I’m pretty sure the drive-thru store on Elliott Ave W is open on Christmas Day as well…
My barista this morning reminded me that if you buy the one pound bag you’ll also get a free tall coffee. I grabbed one of the smaller bags of Christmas blend for $5.45 and as I ordered a tall coffee with it she said for about two dollars more I’d get a full pound, but I stayed with the small bag which was whole bean and she even ground it for me!
@Steve we don’t actually give you a free tall coffee when you buy a pound, let alone a half pound. Some stores do this but it’s against policy and it drives me nuts because then my customers feel cheated by my store for following company policies.
unfortunately its not even a gold card benefit anymore, either. 🙁
yeah, there’s no free tall coffee with a lb around here, not at any stores that I know of , and as @Chase J…. said, it’s not Sbux policy, for sure. not any more. (which actually was a free tall ANY drink, when it was policy…. 🙁
I actually appreciate SB being open on Xmas but then I do not celebrate the holiday. There are many people that come in to relax. Gosh also I wish there were more partners like Scott around here. We truly need chalkboard art.
That sign looks amazing!
@Steve – Chase Jaynes and Denise are right. There actually isn’t any free perk anymore for getting whole bean coffee. That’s a store just playing with the rules in hopes of selling more whole bean.
To anyone – I know it’s a very small thing, but I finally removed that green Onward widget in my side bar. Somehow, it had started to annoy me, like as if there was too much in my side column. Does anyone notice the difference?
Hi Melody,
I can still see the widget. Onward is the second thing down under subscribe.
Christmas Blend is not on sale in Canada…might not go on sale at all as we don’t have a lot left. Interestingly decaf Christmas is $19.95 in Canada.
My store is not open on Christmas Day and I don’t mind that a few are open but I hope the traffic stays low as I would not like to see all stores open. As a partner / manager the day is a respite from the busy holiday season. I know the store is locked and nothing is going wrong. I can relax completely. Which is not something to scoff at, even on a vacation I’m always wondering what is going on.
@Becca – That’s odd. I’ve changed the background. I’m hoping a few people will weigh in if they like it: The green Onward widget is gone, but you should still see the Amazon.com widget. It goes subscribe plug in; Amazon.com widget; then Facebook plug in. Maybe your cookies need to be updated?
Yes mine has an Amazon one but it is for Onward at the moment.
@Becca – Ah yes. There actually used to be two Onward widgets! One was green, and the other was the Amazon widget. You know, I’ve been thinking about getting rid of the Amazon widget entirely. I haven’t made a penny through that widget in ages and ages. This blog clearly just sucks money out of me! LOL And I think that Amazon.com widget might even slow down the site loading. What to do? 🙂
Becca, I’m with you – I actually enjoy Christmas, because I *know* that with the store closed, nothing’s going to happen and it’s safe to step away from my phone 🙂
Thanks, Melody, Chase, and Denise for clarifying that. I guess I thought that was the norm just based on memory of a previous promo. I did notice on the bag there is no mention of a free coffee when you return the empty bag, like it does on the smaller bags I buy at Target. Yesterday I stopped into a store closer to home and bought a pound of Christmas blend and this barista gave me a tall coffee for free so I guess it is just a store by store thing.
Before stopping at this store I was in two different Targets with an SB counter and both said their Christmas blend was not on sale, but one of the baristas offered to give me the sale price, only she could not override the system. I thought it was very kind of her to try though.
@Steve – It frustrates me that Starbucks had created a number of separate but overlapping promotions related to whole bean coffee. One thing for sure, people who sit in the SSC and create Starbucks problems often miss what it will look like from the perspective of a customer (or barista) who doesn’t study Starbucks.
#1 – Whole bean purchased at a grocery store –
The whole bean Starbucks coffee bags purchased in grocery stores (not the actual stores) for a long while had a promo on them that if you returned the empty bag, you got a free cup of coffee. The idea behind this was definitely that they wanted to draw people into the stores, and if you were already buying whole bean coffee, once they get you in the store, you may be enticed by other products. — More info here – http://blogs.starbucks.com/blogs/customer/archive/2009/12/11/would-you-like-a-free-tall-cup-of-coffee.aspx
^ To be honest, I’m not even sure what the current status of that program is. I buy my whole bean at Starbucks.
#2) Free tall brewed coffee if buying a pound of coffee beans inside the store –
This was just a long-standing ‘tradition’ of many Starbucks before the 2008 introduction of Starbucks rewards. This got very confused with everything else. Baristas would wonder – should the bag be empty with a coupon or code on it? Is this a card reward? The fact that there were overlapping ways to get free coffee just caused ENORMOUS confusion.
This really is no longer an official program at all. No more free coffee when buying whole bean.
#3 – Previous MyStarbucksRewards Green Level perk – when paying with a registered Stabrucks card –
3) Free tall any beverage with the purchase of a pound of beans – My Starbucks Rewards perk from April 2008 through October 2012 – And this too got hugely confused with the two above. I can recall clearly ordering a tall beverage (not coffee) and having partners bewildered – should there be a code on the bag? Is is just free coffee? Is that really a Starbucks Rewards perk?
^ The rewards perk no longer exists.
Starbucks gets two big thumbs down for creating three overlapping, confusing programs. Four years into it, I saw partners trained wrong (because so many partners were told by others who pre-dated the 2008 rewards ‘it’s just a coffee’ – and partners were not up to date).
What a mess. I’m almost glad that there’s no longer any perk just because it’s simple, but I understand the idea behind a free cup of coffee if you’re buying whole bean. It’s a very nice gesture of goodwill, and reinforces that Starbucks is about coffee.
And I honestly don’t know if the grocery program still exists.