Starbucks merchandise/retail

What’s New at the Starbucks Coffee Gear Store

by Melody on January 26, 2012

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The Coffee Gear Store is the merchandise store located at the Starbucks headquarters at 2401 Utah Avenue South in Seattle.  I’ve written about this store in the past, but it’s been a while, so I thought it would be nice to have an updated article of what’s new.  As a reminder, the Coffee Gear Store is open to the public, and is open Monday through Friday, generally normal business hours.  It’s closed weekends and holidays.

I dropped by this store today (January 26, 2012) because I was curious to see what was new since the last time I visited.  John, who works at the store, told me to keep an eye out for St. Patrick’s Day Starbucks shirts coming soon!  Apparently there will be a few holiday-themed t-shirts this year at the store, with production being less than 200 shirts for each of the holidays.  There will be a July 4th and a Christmas themed limited production shirt too.

I didn’t take photos of everything offered.  You can look back at the past article on this store and see a number of staple items which appear to be always offered, such as pens, highlighters, magnets, and key chains.  You can also purchase the simple black Starbucks polo shirt which is the coffee gear shirt designed for partners to wear in the stores.  I didn’t take a photo of that polo, but for partner information, those shirts are also available and are priced at about $23 each.  (There is a short sleeve and a long-sleeve basic black polo, and the long-sleeve is slightly more in cost, at about $25, as I recall.)

I thoroughly liked the new brightly colored lunch totes:

I noticed that you can now buy an iPad cover and/or a laptop case that says Starbucks on it.  It’s offered in black, and there is a bright green color too:

 

 

 

 

I have to point out the new white t-shirt and the Starbucks grocery tote.  I have two of the Starbucks grocery totes and use them often.  They’re a nice sturdy canvas material, and hold up well when piled full of groceries:

I am including a few more photos below of the store, and merchandise found inside.  What would you want to buy or wish they would carry? The funny thing was that today I tried to control my spending at the store, and walked away with one small bag, largely full of gifts for others.  I ended up wishing I’d bought more!

Enjoy!

 

Edit on January 27, 2012:

I had originally written this article pretty quickly, and so now I’ve gone back and fixed a few typos.  I know there are definitely partners reading this site, and I wanted to mention that much of the merchandise above is available on the partner coffee gear website.  I have NOT been to that site, but I’ve been told (by several people) that U.S. partners can purchase merchandise from http://www.starbuckscoffeegear.com.  I don’t think there is shipping to international destinations.  I had intended to mention that website, but completely forgot to! ~Melody

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Flashback to Christmas 2007 at Starbucks.

by Melody on December 15, 2011

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It’s that time of year to be excited about the holidays!  I thought I would re-visit Christmas 2007 at Starbucks.  I owe a big thank you to regular StarbucksMelody.com commenter “CD” who sent me this holiday pamphlet.  (It is attached as a series of photos for you.)  The funny thing is that 2007 seems like a long long time ago in Starbucks years.  I definitely remember the chocolate box cards – I think I had bought of a few of those for myself.  And in one image, there are photos of the previous custom cards, which are no longer available at Starbucks.com.  The ornaments featured show off the kind with the globe on top.  And I think that 2007 must have been the last year with a true Christmas bearista bear.  I definitely had bought some of the Espresso Regalo coffee too.  In looking at the photos, I also tend to think it was the last year that you could buy an espresso machine at Starbucks.

So how is everyone’s Christmas going?  And I wonder how Starbucks is doing this year?

Enjoy the flashback to Christmas 2007 at Starbucks:

 

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Tomorrow’s “12 days of gifting” Starbucks promo: A tumbler with the perk of free brewed coffee during January 2012

by Melody on December 11, 2011

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The Starbucks “12 days of gifting” feature a discounted or promotional offering December 1st through December 12th.  Tomorrow is the 12th, and it is by far the best of the “12 days” promotion.  If you are a coffee lover, you will love this.  Starbucks is offering a unique tumbler that comes with the benefit of free coffee refills during the month of January next year.  The tumbler will be $19.95, and then in January you bring it back to Starbucks and you can fill it with whatever brewed coffee happens to be offered.  It’s not clear to me exactly which coffees will be brewed next month, so I imagine you may be offered Pike Place Roast, a blonde coffee option such as Veranda or Willow blend, or possibly a bold coffee like Verona, if it is available.  The catch is that you cannot get a free Clover brewed cup of coffee in the tumbler, nor can you get a free pour over in the tumbler.

I really like this idea!  I know a number of Seattle stores that offer bold coffee close to all day, and I’d fill it with blonde-roast coffee too.  Okay, I’ve even been known to drink a cup of Pike Place Roast in a pinch.

There are limited supplies of the tumbler, so get to Starbucks first thing on Monday morning to get the tumbler!  I can’t wait.

There is one more aspect to this promotion that is important:  It is good for the environment to use your own cup, mug, or tumbler.  “Reducing consumption” is the way to prevent our landfills from filling up with paper cups.  Recycling paper cups is only a half-truth that it is a “green” thing to do.  Not all containers labeled “recycling” actually end up being recycled.  A small percentage will be unusable because too much contamination by oily foods, or mixed in non-recyclables.  Even when a cup is recycled, the overall energy required is very large: Recyclables must be cleaned, sorted, trucked to a recycling plant, re-manufactured into something new, and then re-distributed into the stream of commerce, very often via more big trucks on the road.  The small amount of effort to wash a tumbler is negligible compared to the energy outgo of manufacturing something anew from a paper cup.

It has been well over a year since I have talked about re-usable tumblers and their importance for the environment.  Here’s an old blog article from early 2010 on this topic:

2009 Shared Planet Update on Reusable Tumblers at Starbucks.

How did everyone like the other 12 days of Christmas promotion items?  This is a great promotion.  Get your tumbler, and make it habit to use it all the time. :)

 

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Starbucks city mugs: Oktoberfest, Brisbane, San Diego and more. (Episode #3)

by Melody on November 30, 2011

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It’s been a long while since I’ve written about Starbucks city mugs, so I thought I’d revisit them again.  I recently got the “Oktoberfest” mug in the mail and I love it.  I owe a big thank you to @Sbirr, who sent it to me.  I have a few others that are also relatively new.  The Brisbane mug came to me via @jorda_nn  – and I got it about one year ago!  You can see I’m really overdue to write about it, and give a bit of a shoutout to   @jorda_nn.  I think the Indianapolis city mug is especially nice too – the race car looks great!

Just to recap, here are the past two episodes about the Starbucks city mug series:

Thank you to Molly at Seattle Custom Framing for taking these photos.  I definitely know that there are a lot of city mug collectors out there.  I get emails now and then from people looking for mugs in the series.  Which city mug is your favorite?

Here are the rest of the mugs:

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Nordstrom is now selling Starbucks-inspired designer t-shirts.

September 25, 2011
Thumbnail image for Nordstrom is now selling Starbucks-inspired designer t-shirts.

Starbucks has partnered with “CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund” and Nordstrom to create Starbucks-inspired t-shirts.  The shirts are available online and at  select Nordstrom locations.  There is an official blog post about this here: From the My Starbucks Idea blogs: Starbucks Designer Tees. I decided to drop by my local Nordstrom on Pine Street in downtown [...]

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Starbucks: The current merchandise review episode

September 12, 2011

Let’s look at the merchandise that is currently offered in Starbucks stores.  I’m just going to walk you through a number of mugs, tumblers, and current merchandise items and offer my two cents.  Please feel free to post your own thoughts too in the comments! The stores have an early fall look to them, with [...]

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How many sentences can you make? Starbucks word magnets

August 16, 2011

I’d love to see what kind of sentences you can come up with these Starbucks word magnets.  How many sentences can you make?  This is not easy given the small range of words you get to work with (see article image).  You can do silly things like, ‘You thought of tantalizing sidewalks,’ but that hardly [...]

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Planning now for holiday merchandise at Starbucks. (Open thread)

June 24, 2011

As a tradition, I normally write at least one off-season post about Christmas merchandise at Starbucks.  My theory is that the merchandisers have to plan well in advance for the holiday season of each year, so it makes sense to start talking about it very early.  In fact, I don’t remember where, but I’ve heard that [...]

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1999: Homer Simpson is on the cover of Starbucks Joe Magazine #2

May 8, 2011

Here is the second of the Starbucks-produced Joe Magazine which dates from 1999.  Homer Simpson is on the cover.  Take a good look at the Homer Simpson cartoon on page 46!  There is even a small Mother’s Day mention, and so  I decided I should publish this blog post on Mother’s Day. If you are [...]

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Shopping for Starbucks logo merchandise is now easier than before: The partner store relocates.

April 2, 2011

The Starbucks “partner store” is a merchandise store with items not available at any of their actual coffeehouse locations.  There is an online “partner” store which is only open to partners.  (Starbucks calls their employees “partners.”). And  there is one physical  “partner” store located in the headquarters.  This blog post is about the one store [...]

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