New Starbucks units include ceiling baffles made to bring down the level of background noise and make it easier for customers and employees to hear each other. Starbucks plans to open about 650 new units in the US this year, and the 1,000 locations slated for renovation will also feature the noise-reducing design elements.
Coffee, coffee, coffee
The baffles, which are a ceiling treatment that helps to absorb sound, will also help baristas at the register and customers who could miss their name being called in a noisy store.
Quieter spaces are one example of how Starbucks is thinking about its cafes as it further expands around the globe. In the US, Starbucks plans to add about 650 stores in the fiscal year ending in October, and it’s shooting for 20,000 longer term, up from more than 16,300 today. The acoustic treatment is part of a design framework for new locations and for the roughly 1,000 US shops that will be renovated this fiscal year.
Another core tenet of the global expansion, which is the main focus of this year’s $3 billion of capital expenditures, is to build more of what Starbucks calls “purpose-defined stores” that can cater to trends such as demand for iced beverages and to-go-ordersd.
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