The North side of Chicago saw something new taking form recently near Devon and Broadway. Walk around the corner and you are bound to see a new Starbucks store here. Only, the new Starbucks store is not at all like the other Starbucks outlets you are so used to. This one is entirely different from the others, and has been made out or reused shipping containers.
That’s right! This particular concept store in Chicago is made entirely of reused shipping containers. And Starbucks aims to show out its environmental friendly side to the public through this venture. The entire store was pre-fabricated elsewhere in California, brought to Chicago, and assembled within a matter of a few weeks.
The concept store is in fact, the sixth of its kind in the country, with successful establishments already set up and running in cities like Seattle, Denver, Oregon and Portland etc.
The company has also modified the central theme of the store to make it work more like a walk-up or drive-through store. But the Starbucks employees remain inside the establishment, a modular structure made of nearly half a dozen reused shipping containers that have been decorated with other kinds of recycled items.
The store is located in the Edgewater neighborhood, and aims to attract travelers and local commuters who move to and from Lake Shore on a daily basis. The walk-through facility of the store also seems to appeal to commuters, especially college students who find it time consuming to enter an establishment in order to eat between classes.
The walk through feature of this Starbucks concept store in Chicago would require customers to either walk up or drive up to an order counter located outside the store. Customers can then choose to sit down outside and eat their food, or walk away. While this particular feature may have offended some Starbucks lovers who say the inherent feel of the store (saunter in, relax on a lounge and enjoy your coffee) is missing, others feel that this would be a less time consuming way to order their favorite coffee.
Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz had in fact mentioned in January that going forward, nearly 60% of all Starbucks new outlets would have walk-up or drive-through features.