Store Design

Sustainable design and build methodologies are part of our DNA.

We believe a coffeehouse should be a place to find connection. We believe it should fit seamlessly within its neighbourhood. And we believe its environmental impact should be as minimal as possible.

Our store designs are rooted in our coffee heritage, and in our Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ community involvement and environmental stewardship goals. So our designs reflect the character of a store’s surrounding neighbourhood and help reduce environmental impacts.

As our stores are built and renovated, we will source materials and employ craftsmen on a local basis and incorporate reused and recycled elements where possible. To guide our efforts, we’re using the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® certification program as a benchmark for success. (LEED® is short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.)

We aim to achieve LEED® certification globally for all new, company-owned stores beginning in late 2010.

Each new and renovated store uses one of four design concepts. We invite you to explore them:

Heritage coffeehouses reflect the mercantile roots of our first store in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market with worn wood, stained concrete or tile floors, metal stools and factory-inspired lighting. Large community tables, club chairs and wood blinds evoke a turn-of-the-last-century feeling.
Artisan stores echo the industrial past of urban markets, taking inspiration from the Modernism of the 1930s. This motif celebrates simple materials like exposed steel beams, masonry walls, factory casement glass and hand-polished woodwork in a creative gathering place for culture and the arts.
Regional Modern embodies a trend-setting style that is comfortable and welcoming. We use bright, loft-like, light-filled spaces punctuated with regionally inspired furniture and culturally relevant fabrics to create a calm and contemporary respite from the clamour of the fast-paced world.
Concept stores are unique environments created by our designers to explore innovations within the coffeehouse. We call them our “design sandboxes.” That sense of exploration is extended to everyone who visits, through daily coffee and tea cuppings, artistic events and community gatherings.