Starbucks Coffee Co.

A month after revealing excessive digital orders caused in-store congestion and canceled orders, Starbucks has come up with a solution.  

Starbucks Coffee Company will open for business in Italy for the first time in late 2018.   The coffee giant plans to open a 25,500-sq.-ft. Reserve Roastery outpost in late 2018 in Milan, in the historic, turn-of-the-century post office building in the city’s center. The Milan Reserve Roastery will be the first Starbucks Roastery to open in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and the fifth, globally. It is the first of additional Starbucks stores the company plans to open in Italy.   

Starbucks is shuttering its remaining Evolution Fresh stores, but the brand will live on.   The coffee giant will close the two Evolution locations, both of which are in Seattle, but will continue to sell Evolution Fresh cold-press packaged juices in its coffee shops and at supermarkets. It also is launching new flavors.      Starbucks bought the brand in 2011, reportedly with an eye to rolling out stores nationwide. But it never grew beyond a handful of locations.  

1. The import tax wild card. The Trump administration has floated a new tax policy that would apply a 20% tax on imports from Mexico, as well as other countries with which the United States has a trade deficit. If implemented, this tax could have a disproportionally large negative impact on merchants that export much of the goods they sell — i.e., almost all of our readers.  

Starbucks has extended its social gifting promotions into China, where it has launched a major expansion program to double its stores within the next five years.      The coffee giant’s new “Say It With Starbucks” program, created by Starbucks and Weixin, China’s leading mobile social communications app, enables users to gift a Starbucks beverage or digital gift card via a social gifting platform.   

Starbucks Corp.’s plan to hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years (in its stores in 75 countries around the globe) has proved to be one of the socially progressive retailer’s most controversial moves to date.   The initiative, a response to President Trump’s executive order barring refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, has many conservatives and Trump supporters calling for a boycott of the coffee chain.   

Levin Management Corp. has been named as the exclusive managing agent for two New Jersey shopping centers — Raintree Towne Center in Freehold and Mansfield Plaza in Hackettstown.   The 134,000-sq.-ft. Raintree is anchored by a Stop & Shop supermarket and includes CVS, Starbucks, and Hallmark. It is located on Route 537 near the CentraState Medical Center and Freehold Raceway Mall.   Mansfield Plaza, a 156,000-sq.-ft. property, features a 14-screen Cinepolis complex and a ShopRite supermarket.

Vestar announced the close of a deal to acquire the Twin Creeks Marketplace in Allen, Texas, north of Dallas.   Opened in 2016, the 43,134-sq.-ft. center sits on five acres at the intersection of W. Exchange Parkway and Alma Drive. Tenants include Sprouts Farmers Market, Verizon, Starbucks, Advancial Credit Union, Luxe Nails, Studio Smiles, and ATI Physical Therapy.  

Starbucks is further evolving its digital customer experience.    Staring Monday, Jan. 30, Starbucks is launching a beta test for a voice messaging service that enables guests to place and pre-pay for their food and beverage orders “on command” via the Starbucks mobile iOS app and the Amazon Alexa platform. The new “My Starbucks barista” feature is an extension of Starbucks Mobile Order & Pay service, which allows customers to order and pay for their items before arriving at their store.  

Starbucks Corp. is living up to its reputation as one of the nation’s most socially progressive retailers.    On the heels of President Donald Trump's indefinite suspension of Syrian refugees and temporary travel bans that apply to seven predominantly Muslim countries, the coffee giant pledged to hire 10,000 refugees to work at its stores around the world during the next five years.