Starbucks & Amazon Open ‘Just Walk Out’ Café With Shorter Waiting Time
Image via Starbucks
On Thursday, a rather different Starbucks store opened on New York City’s 59th Street. Integrating the best of the digital and physical worlds, this Starbucks Pickup store will allow customers to walk straight into the store to pick up their order without needing to interact with a cashier.
This comes as a collaboration between the iconic coffee brand and Amazon Go, whose ‘Just Walk Out’ technology was first showcased in its grocery stores and has seen rapid expansion over this last year.
In this Starbucks Pickup store, customers will have the choice of just grabbing their to-go order, made beforehand from the mobile app and sent to the store “59th between Park & Lex w/ Amazon Go.” This will be collected from the large counter with a screen above it to show which orders are still in progress and which are ready.
If customers want to access the rest of the store, which includes the Amazon Go market and the Starbucks lounge seating, they can scan the “in-store code” in the Amazon Shopping app, Amazon One, or a credit card. A kiosk near the entry will allow for new signups to Amazon One, too.
Image via Starbucks
Then, they’ll be able to pick up food and other items using the same tech as the other Amazon Go stores. Put simply, any item picked off the shelf is automatically added to the customer’s virtual shopping basket, and any item put back onto the shelf is removed accordingly.
When the items have been chosen, the customers can spend some time enjoying a quick bite with their coffee at the comfortable seating areas within the spacious store, which include individual workspaces and generously-sized tables with power outlets and USB ports, perfect for getting some work done.
And of course, a refill on the coffee is always an option—orders can be placed through the app, like before, or through a barista at the counter, as with most other stores.
Image via Starbucks
“We designed this experience to fit people’s needs as they go about their day,” Dilip Kumar, vice president of physical retail and technology for Amazon, tells CNBC. “Sometimes you’re in a hurry, some days you have more time.”
Additionally, the Pickup store will have longer hours than a usual Starbucks café, he continues. It’ll be staying open until 10pm on weekdays, and 9pm on weekends.
Apart from offering the full Starbucks menu, this store will also make a “curated assortment” of food and beverages in the Amazon Go market available, which includes fresh salads, sandwiches, bakery treats, and snacks.
Image via Starbucks
“Our goal with this new store concept is to give our customers the ability to choose which experience is right for them as they go through their day,” explains Katie Young, senior vice president of global growth and development at Starbucks.
This could take the form of “utilizing the Starbucks and Amazon apps to purchase food and beverages on the go, or deciding to stay in the lounge for the traditional third place experience Starbucks is known for,” she shares in a statement.
More of these Pickup stores are poised to pop up in the city in the new year, too; Starbucks has stated that there are plans for outlets to open in The New York Times Building located at 40th Street, and on 8th Avenue in New York City.
[via CNBC, all images via Starbucks]
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