Starbucks opens its first pick-up only location

Starbucks Coffee Company has unveiled a new format designed for customers on-the-go.

The coffee giant open its first-ever Starbucks Pickup store in New York City’s Penn Plaza. This location uses the mobile order & pay feature of the Starbucks mobile app as the primary ordering and payment method for customers. 

The store features a digital status board on which customers can track the progress of their order.

“Our customers who are on-the-go have told us that connection and convenience are important to them,” said Katie Young, VP of urban markets for Starbucks. “By designing a store specifically for the mobile order occasion, we can deliver both for these customers using the store’s design, location and the expertise of our baristas.”

In designing the location, the company began with a prototype in the Tryer Center, a center for innovation at the Starbucks Support Center in Seattle. Starbucks teams focused on operations, digital innovation and design, and worked with store associates to create an experience that met customer and employee needs.

An early prototype produced a high volume of customer orders but received low marks from associates due to constrained space and inability to connect with customers. With that feedback, the team started over and developed the Starbucks Pickup format.

Starbucks currently offers a similar mobile-focused store format in Beijing, China. Called Starbucks Now, it is designed to offer a streamlined experience for customers who have pre-ordered online and also for delivery drivers/riders who are picking up online orders.

Starbucks Now features a dedicated area for pickup of Starbucks Delivers orders by drivers, while fulfilled online orders are placed in a secure in-wall system with a designated pickup portal associated with each order. Unlike Starbucks Pickup, Starbucks Now does have a limited product assortment for on-the-go orders placed inside the store.