The Seattle Times reports that Starbucks is testing yet another new marketing approach as it tries to recapture its mojo - it is renovating its store on Seattle’s Capitol Hill and giving it an entirely new name, 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.
That’s right. The Starbucks name will be nowhere to be seen on the façade, or on the products being sold inside.
There are at least two other Seattle-area stores slated to be renovated with names that reflect their neighborhoods rather than the corporate brand.
But that won’t be the only change. Starbucks also plans to change the kind of products it sells in the new stores: In the spirit of a traditional coffeehouse, it will serve wine and beer, host live music and poetry readings and sell espresso from a manual machine rather than the automated type found in most Starbucks stores,” the Times writes.
That’s right. The Starbucks name will be nowhere to be seen on the façade, or on the products being sold inside.
There are at least two other Seattle-area stores slated to be renovated with names that reflect their neighborhoods rather than the corporate brand.
But that won’t be the only change. Starbucks also plans to change the kind of products it sells in the new stores: In the spirit of a traditional coffeehouse, it will serve wine and beer, host live music and poetry readings and sell espresso from a manual machine rather than the automated type found in most Starbucks stores,” the Times writes.
- KC's View:
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I can understand wanting to get more in touch with local neighborhoods and communities, but taking one’s name off the door doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense…especially because everybody is going to know who owns the store anyway.
I like the idea of expanding into wine and beer and hosting live music…but it seems to me that maybe they need to change the management style a bit, decentralizing and localizing, rather than going incognito. The way they’re doing it has just a hint of desperation…
