Bucking a trend: Starbucks launch unique shop in UK

London – The US coffee chain has launched a new-look store on Conduit Street with the promise that ‘no two Starbucks will be the same’ – with plans to roll out similar refurbishments in the UK and Ireland.

The London store follows on from the successful launch of the company’s ‘local’ Seattle store earlier this year. Starbucks hopes that the new development will strengthen the customers’ sense of community, and its bottom line, by making the brand be seen to be green, authentic and community-oriented.

The new coffee shop design features reclaimed materials and extant features such as wood paneling from a Victorian brewery and Terrazzo flooring; its baristas offer used coffee grounds to customers to take home and compost.

As consumers tire of homogenised stores – as we demonstrate in our Home from Home report – we think consumers will return to their new ‘local’ coffee house.