From the category archives:

In-store experiences and store design

Time to clear up the confusion over the Starbucks photography policy

by Melody on August 21, 2010

{ 16 comments }

It is time to clear up some confusion surrounding the Starbucks in-store photography policy:  Once upon a time, a long long time ago, Starbucks had a “no photos in store” policy. In the year 2010, this is simply not the case.  I don’t know exactly when this policy changed though I have some theories about that.

***Here is the Starbucks photo policy ***

Customers may take photographs for personal use while in our stores.

Members of the media may not take photographs or film in store without permission from Starbucks Media Relations.

***A little background story***

Last December I decided I would write a blog article about a then-new Starbucks in Bellevue Square, in Bellevue, Washington. My blog article is here:

Store design and community: Just beautiful Bellevue Square and Pier 55

Shortly before I wrote that article about the Bellevue Square Starbucks, I confirmed via email the Starbucks photography policy.  I had heard from a variety of people that non-professional photography is fine in a Starbucks, but members of media must contact PR.  (This blog is definitely considered non-professional).  While I definitely felt that I could freely take photographs of the new store, I contacted a few people above the store level and alerted them to my plan.  Even if I am sure that I can take pictures, if the store partners aren’t on the same wavelength, I could (hypothetically speaking) cause alarm or problems in a store. That definitely isn’t my plan.

So in summary, the day that I took the photos for the above blog article, everything went as smooth as pie.  In addition, as I visit a variety of stores in Seattle, for the most part I rarely get hassled about store photos.  Those stores which are high profile “beacon” stores are totally accustomed to customer after customer walking in the door with a camera in hand.  I believe that the Starbucks store photography policy is better understood in Seattle than most places.

Recently, I ended up having the conversation again about what the Starbucks photo policy is, in conjunction with this blog article here:

The faces of Starbucks: Seeking pics of real people, real partners

^ Please click on that link! That contest involves prizes and is still an active contest until August 28th!! Please share that link.

Since all of the photos that I’m seeking are non-professional, there is not any problem about any possible violation of the Starbucks photo policy.

I know that a number of partners will be in disbelief reading this blog article, but if you need further confirmation, then send an email to press@Starbucks.com for more information about the photo policy.

In fact, recently I did send such an email to press@Starbucks.com which is how I ultimately received back the black and white photo policy listed above.

I’ve actually had baristas tell me that they only allow customers to take pictures in their stores (even if it is friends just trying to capture memories with other friends) if the customer stands towards the entrance of the store.  This is just a false notion entirely.  I would say that the current photography policy weighs in favor of allowing photographs over not allowing them.

***What does all this mean?***

From here on out in this blog article, I’m just giving you my opinion and educated guesses, and take everything I say with a grain of salt…

I think that at one time there was a more firm “no photos” policy but that began to erode away in 2008.  In the summer of 2008, Starbucks opened up a beautiful and unique store in the SODO neighborhood of Seattle at 4th and Diagonal,  This store was perhaps one of the very earliest prototype stores for the repurposed wood and reclaimed wood themed stores.  It’s a visually lovely story, and looks fairly unique because it does really look like the store design team used it to experiment with a number of ideas.  The only disappointment associated with that store is that the store design team never gave that store the lovely chalk menu boards that most reclaimed wood-themed stores have.  People started taking pictures.

But in 2009 there were big developments in the area of store design: First and Pike Starbucks opened, as well as University Village, 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea, Roy Street, and even Disney France.  By 2009, I believe that Starbucks began to think, “it’s a great idea to have people taking pictures of our innovative stores and showing them off!”  In fact, it’s great PR to have photos on the web of smiling faces inside stores, beverage in hand, in innovative stores with great store design.  Those photos should nearly be encouraged! LOL

By 2009, the store photo policy evaporated.  The good PR possibilities looked like they would outweigh the risks.

So what kind of photos does Starbucks not like? I think that the intent of the photos is what is important, but the problem is that there is no way for Starbucks to tell baristas, “Only let in customers with good intentions.”  If I walked into a Starbucks and started taking photographs of tables and then posted a blog article which said, “look, here’s a store that never does lobby slides. Look how messy these tables are” I have no doubt that such an article would make a few PR people wince just a little, even if briefly.  If I walked into a Starbucks and took photographs of tables and posted a blog article that says, “look, here is a remodeled Starbucks with lovely tables made from wood reclaimed from fallen trees in a nearby park” then the same photos have completely different significance.

Despite what a few people may think, this blog is non-professional, non-traditional media, and it’s just a hobby.  The question really then becomes when is someone professional photography? That would be newspapers, magazines, professional blogs possibly, television, etc…  In the event that professional media needs to take photographs in the store, in my experience, what happens is that both a PR person and an Edelman person will baby-sit the event.  I have been to in-store events with both PR and Edeleman people there because professional media was at the event.  Amazingly, I would say that traditional media, such as the Seattle Times Coffee City blog, fairly automatically uses the right channels before just snapping pictures automatically.  And based on what I have seen in the stores, my own conversations surrounding this topic, and my own use of photos in this blog, I would say the policy weighs in favor of allowing the photographs over not allowing them.  Starbucks probably never wants to perceived as trying to hide something, nor do they want to be perceived as a big bad corporation that would harass a couple of guests taking pics of each other while having fun in a store.

By the way, Starbucks can’t really ever know how a person plans to actually USE a photograph at the time they’re being taken.  A good example of this happened earlier this year when I was visiting the Starbucks at First and Pike.  One morning I dropped by the First and Pike Starbucks, and happened, as luck would have it, to be standing near two bloggers from Serious Eats.  That blog employs professional bloggers who are paid to produce content. The story of Serious Eats visitng this Starbucks is here:

Serious Eats drops by First and Pike Starbucks

As I stood there watching the two women from Serious Eats take photographs, I had the passing thought that the two women could actually be professional media.  In the end though, they produced a very positive article about the store which then ran in a busy and popular blog. Should the two of them have had a PR or Edelman person with them? Maybe so, maybe not. Did it even matter in the end? Definitely not.  The store handled it perfectly right: Don’t make a big deal and treat the two customers with great customer service.  And visit the Serious Eats blog if you’re hungry! That is a fun blog.

***Conclusion***

I would absolutely encourage partners to get their answers clarified through official channels: press@Starbucks.com.

Hope this blog entry has been helpful!

(Photo for this blog entry borrowed from Wikipedia Commons).

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The Starbucks Brand is a Promise [Open thread]

by Melody on August 14, 2010

{ 35 comments }

The Starbucks brand is a promise.  Of course every great brand is a promise.  I am having some trouble producing a lot of content right now (I’m working from a very slow netbook, which is slowing me down and makes it slower to work with images) and I thought we could have some fun just talking about what Starbucks means to us.

Please tell me what Starbucks means to you, and what your Starbucks experience is.

A brand means that you have predictability to what you get.  So if you hear the word “Crest” you might think of toothpaste, and definitely if you hear the word “Sharpie” probably a pen comes to mind.

One of the dangerous things a brand can do is just slap their logo willy-nilly everywhere and then people start to get confused about what the logo really stands for.  Is Starbucks a place for coffee? I previously wrote about Starbucks Popcorn: A brand can get away with throwing their logo on other items to some degree but if it isn’t done with great caution it leads to brand dilution.  That’s okay if the brand is okay with that transformation:  People will  forget what the brand was built on. When people hear “Nordstrom” they don’t think of a place that just sells shoes (that’s how it started) and even when you hear “Eddie Bauer” many people don’t make any association to a goose down jacket, but that one product was the start of the Eddie Bauer brand. 

For Starbucks, the brand promises great coffee (and I am including espresso beverages in the word “coffee” here though usually when I say coffee I just mean brewed coffee.) and a great experience.  Starbucks tells you what they promise: Your drink should be perfect every time.

More than that, there are numerous implicit promises:

Your experience will be uplifting.  You can come here and take a break from your job or rest from your busy day.

Your experience may have some surprise and delight in it.  This is critical. Baristas who are forced to follow a scripted routine can’t surprise and delight a customer.  I thought about this last Thursday, as I definitely had a ‘first’ in all my years as a customer.  A young barista gave me an “Involved” card.  I nearly cried. I walked in and the barista said, “you know what Green Apron Cards” are? – He said it more as a statement than a question. I said yes.  He gave me the “inspire” card. That was a great surprise.  In all honesty, that means a lot more to me than a coupon for a free drink.  I’m very touched.  True, all baristas have to be working together as a team to make great things happen, and there must be protocols to create some predictability to the experience, but they’re not robots and can’t act like that. Each and every baristas must be vested with the discretion to find a way to make a customer’s day bright.  I realize that many customers just want to hurry in and out and get their coffee, but a fixed script or the inability to act freely is what would instantly turn the experience into, ‘would you like fries with that latte?’

Your baristas should be knowledgeable.  This is critical, and unfortunately in my experience, an area that needs great improvement.  I hate to say not nice things about Starbucks, but these days there seems to be little emphasis on being knowledgeable.  I have witnessed countless episodes where barists could not explain the registered card benefits to the customer standing in line ahead of me.  I have met tons of baristas who are unaware that ANY registered card may be at the “Gold” level of MyStarbucksRewards and receiving gold level perks.  During brew on demand phase, I encountered many baristas who didn’t understand why an Americano is not the same thing as brewed coffee. The concept that brew method and kind of bean affects the flavor of the drink seemed to be not well-known. In Clover stores, I’ve watched baristas struggle with which growing regions are associated with which coffees, though this is important to properly program the Clover machine.  Fundamentally, Starbucks needs to pour a lot more effort, money, and labor into training. 

Actually, being not being knowledgeable can be overcome by being genuine and honest.  Last week I was at a Starbucks late in the evening at 7th and Pike in downtown Seattle, and ordering a beverage with vanilla syrup.  I handed him my old black card to pay (my 10 percent discount has long since expired, but it is registered and has Uncle Howard’s autograph on it, so I continue to use it) and the barista gave me a total.  I think I said something like, “well that’s not the real total because it will take off the Vanilla charge.”  The barista was confused.  It was clearly the first time he had seen the black gold card and he didn’t understand that it too would have all the perks of My Starbucks Rewards. Rather than trying to bluff his way through the situation, he just looked at me with very genuine eyes and said that he was new, and then he listened with open ears as I explained that any card may be used to receive the benefits of My Starbucks Rewards.  Now that is a great partner.  In all honesty, I don’t care usually if a partner isn’t very knowledgeable if they’re nice about it: If they have sort of a curiosity to know more. Unfortunately, it’s human nature to feel defensive when one feels like he or she doesn’t know enough for the demanding moment, and that interferes with being geniune and a good learning process.

***

Just as a reminder, I am still looking for partner pics to feature in an upcoming blog post.  I realize this is difficult and probably overly ambitious for me.  Most people don’t like to show off pics of themselves! Here’s the blog post – Please read it!

Looking for the faces of Starbucks partners: Real people, real partners

***

If you are new to the blog, I recommend reading some of the following previous blog entries:

Starbucks chalk art – winners – Seriously, everyone loves this blog post.  It’s a celebration of creativity and shows off the talents found inside of Starbucks.

Collecting Starbucks Cards and Howard Schultz’s autograph – This is another fun blog post. Lots of people collect these cards and so I show off my small collection of cards, which includes Howard’s autograph on a few of them.  I keep a sharpie with me at all times ready to ask Howard for his autograph yet again!

First and Battery Starbucks Card (Twilight Card) – This was never one of my most popular blog entries when I look over my analytics but I love it.  This Starbucks Card sits inside thousands and thousands of Starbucks stores, and it has a story to be told.  It’s a real and beautiful Starbucks store.

Starbucks Cafe Verona coffee – This also never was a hugely popular blog post in relative comparison to others, but I love this one.  For me, Verona has often been a “go to” coffee for me, and this blog post gives an interesting little history of the coffee.

The Starbucks at 1912 Pike Place – According to my google analytics, this was a pretty wildly popular blog post which came as a surprise to me.  It just goes show you that sometimes we take for granted what is right in our backyard.  Since I’m in Seattle, going to visit 1912 Pike Place isn’t a big deal, but I underestimate that this is an important pilgrimage for many people.

Starbucks Espresso Excellence – Two Years Later – Remember when Starbucks closed all their stores for a ‘hard reset’ of espresso training? This blog post revisits that experience.

Actually, not to sound too egotistical, but if you browse the “archive” tab, you’ll find tons of amazing blog entries. Wow. This blog really kicks ass! Okay, I know I shouldn’t say that and sorry for the vulgarity!

***

I need to apologize for the MANY typos and spelling errors in this blog entry. I know it’s very bad.  This stupid, slow, little net book doesn’t even have Word installed on it. I give up. I’ll fix the typos later. Normally, I’m much more careful than this sloppy blog post.

***

And now it’s your turn … What promises do you see and hear in the word “Starbucks”?  What does Starbucks promise YOU? This is an open thread: talk about anything Starbucks-related.  I know that over on other blogs people are talking about the return of Salted Hot Chocolate, and the new Toffee Nut Sauce which will be a thick sauce like a mocha sauce.  Right now there is a toffee nut syrup, but not a toffee sauce.

I suppose I could have renamed this blog post, “The power of the Green Apron Cards” because that’s what it is. 

(I got the “involved” card from a partner, and had the others laying around but didn’t come as special gifts with a note on the back. The only card I’d been missing (I think), was, in fact, “involved”.)

Thank you Molly of Seattle  Custom Framing for help with the photos.

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Showing off a new Clover Starbucks at 2095 Golden Center

by Melody on August 4, 2010

{ 32 comments }

Some of my readers might recall a previous blog post I had where I talked about Starbucks Clover store locations.  Only a small percentage of Starbucks have the Clover brewer, and these very small number of stores receive special “small batch” coffees to go with their special equipment.  Starbucks is definitely working on expanding the number of stores with the Clover brewer, and these “small batch” coffees.  Even my blog post from within the past month is now a little out of date.  I have heard that there are Clovers now in New Jersey, and Savannah, Georgia and they are not reflected on the list.

In this blog’s comments in a previous blog article, a reader said that Gold River, California had just launched a Clover.  I decided I would go visit.  The address to this store is as follows:

Starbucks (Store #627)

2095 Golden Center, #10

Gold River, California 95670

(916) 853 9728

Since I was traveling so far, I decided to let them know I was coming.  I should let my readers know that there was nothing about this visit that was a surprise.  The District Manager greeted me at the store, and we chatted as I had breakfast (Perfect Oatmeal) and a Vivanno.  I took a large number of photos for the store, since it is so beautiful.  My journey to Gold River was to experience the Clover brewer newly-launched at this site, so I didn’t leave without ordering a Clover cup of coffee.  I ordered a tall Sumatra, and much to my surprise, the District Manager offered to let me make it. This was so much fun! The Clover genuinely has a ton of theater to it.  There are a lot of steps, and in many ways, since there is some craft to making a cup of coffee, it reminds me of the old days of having manual espresso machines.  There really is something special about watching a barista make a drink, just for you, by hand.

On the topic of theater in a Starbucks, I want to call attention to a previous blog post called Deconstructing the Starbucks Experience.  That post has never really been an abutment of this blog, however the ideas in it are still important to me, and I think it makes for good reading.  Here is the link one more time:

Deconstructing the Starbucks Experience into Three Pieces

A barista in a white shirt walked me through making my Clover cup of coffee.  I weighed out 40 grams of coffee for my tall cup of coffee.  We ground the coffee, and poured it into the bowl-like area on the Clover, and then mixed the grounds with hot water.  In just a minute or so, freshly brewed coffee was ready.  At the end, the coffee grounds (now called a ‘puck’ by many baristas) get scraped away and the Clover wiped down.  It was a perfect cup of Sumatra.

I owe a huge thanks to the barista in the white shirt for patiently walking me through making my own drink.  Unfortunately, I can’t remember her name, which is driving me nuts.

A picture is worth a 1000 words, and so below are a few photos from this store, showing off its beauty, and a couple of pictures of me (don’t laugh please – goofy pics warning!!!!) at the Clover.

Thank you to Gold River, California for hosting my visit, and making me feel like a VIP while I was there!

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15th Avenue Coffee and Tea has its one year anniversary & a little tea education

by Melody on July 20, 2010

{ 17 comments }

The Starbucks store known better as “15th Avenue Coffee and Tea” will have its one year anniversary on July 24, 2010.  I decided now is the time to take another look at this store, with updated photos and information, as well as a little Tazo Tea education at the same time.  While I might mention teas that are not commonly found at your local Starbucks, I always consider Tazo Tea fair game for this blog: Readers might be able to visit their local Whole Foods or other similar such grocery store and purchase the less commonly found Tazo Teas there.

Today (July 18, 2010) I joined in the cupping, arriving shortly before 11:00 a.m.  Barista-Amanda greeted me warmly (as always) and said, “Hey you’re here for the cupping? What do you want to cup today Melody?“.  I said, “Well, I’m not really a tea drinker but I think my tea drinking readers would like that. I seem to have a lot of them reading the blog.”

*****Tea cupping July 18, 2010:*****

Today we cupped four green teas.  They were Westlake Dragonwell, China Green Tips, Jasmine Pearls, and Gen Maicha.  All tea comes from the plant Camellia Sinensis.  Whether it is a white, green, or black tea has to do with how much the tea has been oxidized.  Tea can be processed in ways to bring out extreme flavor variety.  For example, the Jasmine Pearl tea has been infused with Jasmine flowers, giving a truly distinctive flowery flavor, and the Gen Maicha tea has toasted rice in it.  When we smelled the un-steeped Gen Maicha tea, it smelled like cereal!  The darkest teas, like an oolong tea, are charcoal fired, and a white tea has not been oxidized at all.  The best tea comes from young, fresh shoots.  Herbal tea does not come from the plant Camillia Sinensis at all and technically is not really a “tea”.

The teas steeped for about three minutes and then each of us tasted them.  The Gen Maicha tea was an almost savory tea.  I could get used to that! It was by far my favorite.  I have included a couple of pictures too showing the Tazo Tea packaging that these unique teas are packaged in.  I’ll be honest, I don’t know if a normal Starbucks has these Tazo Teas, but even if they do not, it seems like these shouldn’t be too hard to find at many grocery stores.

As a reminder, 15th Avenue Coffee’s own blog has featured tea entries several times, most recently discussing the tea Yunnan Pu-Erh.

And for even more on the topic of Tazo Tea, I have a previous blog post here on the Tazo Tea headquarters in Portland, Oregon.

However, I am not going to spend too much time talking about tea since I want to also cover what changes have happened over one year at this store:

*****One year review of 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea:*****

First off, if anyone reading this is confused about what is special about this highly unique Starbucks, I recommend this previous blog post as the primer for today’s post:

A lot has changed since the store was brand new.  The store doesn’t have the same manager as in the beginning. “Jay” is the store manager.  The first store manager was “Jenna”.  A number of baristas have been there for a full year. There are many new faces too.  The coffee offerings have come and gone, as small batches of various international coffee beans cycle through the store.  There still is a coffee or tea cupping at 11:00 a.m. every single day.  Every beverage is still a delicious hand-crafted beverage with shots pulled from a La Marzocco machine.

One thing that impresses me about this store is how they’re very good at getting customer participation in their cuppings.  I have attended numerous store cuppings, and lots of people who are visiting join in.  I have cupped with random SSC partners who were passing through, regulars, friends that I brought, and wonderful people who have traveled from all over to visit this unique store.  The day of the tea-cupping (above, July 18, 2010) a store regular named “Loretta” wanted to join in.  It was a lot of fun! She was definitely having fun talking about tea.  Loretta is a great regular. I know I have seen her there many times, but today I chatted with her about her relationship to the store and I learned that she credits herself for keeping this store open and alive! Thank you Loretta! I owe you too! She had petitioned Starbucks to save the store.  As you may recall, before 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea was “streetlevel” non-branded store, it was in fact a normal Starbucks.  There is a Seattle PI article about Loretta here.

Another thing that has not changed is that the baristas are all still full of personality.  Fortunately, the baristas at this store are completely used to the fact that I am constantly snapping photos of the store (all of the photos for today’s blog post were taken on July 18, 2010).  At a couple of points I was joking around with the baristas and they saw me with the camera and decided to offer the blog readers some of their best “poses”.  You’ll see what I mean below.  These partners are wonderful.

Some of the most significant changes to 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea over the course of one year are as follows:

  • Originally the store was designed with ALL hard seats. The store now has some soft-seating “comfy” chairs.
  • Originally the store did not have blenders. A few months ago blenders were added to the store, and with the addition of blenders, Frappuccinos are now available.  (Vivannos are still not an option).
  • Grilled sandwiches are now available.
  • The store now carries both Starbucks ice cream and Bluebird ice cream.
  • The store offers a small selection of salads.

The store front signage could use a little improvement:  The signage showing that you’re at a coffee house is not eye-level are exceeding obvious.  People mentally will gravitate to an awning looking for a business name.  I have hung out at this store enough to see that people walk by, stop right at the entrance of the door, peer in, puzzled look on their faces, and keep walking.  I think that there is still some fascination about whether this is a “sleuth Starbucks” but even more so, the big sign that says 15th Avenue Coffee (on the pole outside the store) is positioned much higher than eye-level, and somehow it’s not obvious from the street-level what is happening at this store. So people stop, peer in, realize it’s a coffeehouse (maybe they were looking for something else) and keep walking.  It would be such an easy fix to simply paint (in white letters) “15th Avenue Coffee and Tea” on the brown awning.  On a hot day, the door to the store is propped open, making it difficult to see the business name on the door.

Don’t forget, customers can pay with their registered Starbucks card here and earn “stars“!

Last but not least, don’t forget that if you use twitter you should be following 15th Ave. Coffee at @15thAveCoffee.

Here are some photos from today’s visit to 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea:

(Edit: 7-21-10 – Wow this blog is TERRIBLE when it comes to typos. Sorry. You can tell I wrote it at like 10 pm. I am working on correcting the horrible writing in this blog post. Sorry.)

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Soup’s on at the Children’s Hospital Starbucks

July 17, 2010

Today (July 16, 2010) is the grand opening of the brand spanking new Starbucks inside Children’s Hospital in Seattle.  This beautiful new Starbucks is designed to be a warm and welcoming place for children, and a home away from home for the hospital staff, parents, patients, and their unique customer base. This store offers hot [...]

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The First Starbucks – 1912 Pike Place

July 15, 2010

Melody invites you on a trip to the first Starbucks: Imagine it’s a Sunday morning at about 7:30 a.m.  You’re visiting Seattle and decide to drop by the first Starbucks and beat the crowds.  Pike Place Market is just starting to open and many of the shops are still closed.  Beecher’s Cheese is still closed [...]

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What’s the story behind this Starbucks coffee certificate? Reader help requested.

July 12, 2010

Recently I was visiting my local Starbucks on a late afternoon (July 1, 2010) and in walked a customer holding the certificate that is featured in the image for this blog post.  He walked up to the register and told the register barista that the certificate entitled him to a free pound of coffee.  I [...]

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Starbucks opens its first LEED registered store in Japan

June 16, 2010

On May 26, 2010, Starbucks announced the opening its first store to be LEED registered  in Japan, located in Ohori Park.  I’ve heard from a number of people that the store actually first opened on April 26, 2010.  The official My Starbucks Idea blogs have a good blog entry explaining what LEED certification is, so [...]

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Coming soon: A brand new Starbucks store with a really big heart!

June 10, 2010

What’s 2300 square feet and has an even bigger heart? The brand new Starbucks inside Children’s Hospital Seattle. Coming soon: July 17, 2010 Starbucks is scheduled to open a new company-operated store inside Children’s Hospital in Seattle.  Most Starbucks located inside other businesses are licensed locations, but this one is not.  This is an all [...]

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Store Review – Starbucks at Aurora Village in Seattle (#394) and the final chapter of the car story

June 4, 2010

It’s been a while since I have written a store review of a Starbucks, but with this blog entry I’ll be reviewing the Starbucks at 200th North and Highway 99, right on the border between King and Snohomish County.  It is the “Aurora Village” Starbucks, near the Aurora Village Transit Center.  During this blog post [...]

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