When I lived in London (which I did till October last year) I too had a “home” Starbucks, which was in Wimbledon. For years I’d be in there pretty much once a day and the experience was amazing. What made the difference, I think, was the store manager, who was very customer focused and would come out from behind the counter regularly to chat with people in the store. This encouraged the baristas to do the same. I knew the baristas by name and they me, and they’d be lining up my grande soya latte as they saw me walk in the door, and asking me whether I wanted a granola bar today or not. It was awesome. But then the manager changed and a new guy came. He was more reticent. Suddenly the place felt more shabby, the dirty cups etc were cleared away less often and the atmosphere began to suffer. A lot of the staff left and they clearly began to have staffing problems. I began not to enjoy it and indeed, never mind cheating, I quit Starbucks and joined the rank of Costa lovers.

I can see the store layout makes a difference, but to me store leadership is vital.

“We are deeply interested in activating the power of the “white space”–the places and spaces between intention and interaction.

Our purpose is to uncover and make extraordinary connections that enhance the value of investments in architecture, workplace, people and brand.”
!!

In research we’ve been part of in the past, it has been surprising to uncover and understand the tremendous cost to the economy of failing to plan and design thoughtfully (authentically). The concept of the influence of space on the performance of people seems well accepted in other domains but remains resisted in the world of work. (http://archizoo.com/2010/03/03/scenius-and-workspace-genius/)

To stay on the Starbucks theme, my own nearby touchpoint, a place authentic in its simplicity and spareness, provided a great place for a regular clientele to meet and greet both among themselves as well as in their invitations to others to join them there for business or socialization. Success meant, of course, remodeling. The store inverted its space profile and, in the new plan, gave 2/3 of the store over to back of counter operations. The customer experience is now no longer to gather (no place for it) but only to order. A drive-in window may have been the “authentic” response.

Jennifer, The Starbucks in the Garage sounds like a great natural experiment … would have been nice to collect some before & after data!
Retail designers are (obviously) hip to all of these physical details, and they also consider customer ‘flow’, but I am not sure to what degree they think about who the employees are and how the employees might want to interact w/ customers… I wonder if the store designers consider ‘informal customer-employee interaction’ as part of the SB design process. Melody might know. ?
Fun to go from an artist background into an MBA program
Thanks both of you for sharing your insights.
cv

I recently conducted an operational analysis of Peet’s Coffee in Harvard Square. They have a cold, cramped, and inefficient space. They also have high staff turnover and not-so-great customer service. The two are connected, no doubt. A few changes, and it would be a great site and a better business.

A great example of this “turnaround” can be experienced at the Harvard Square Starbucks in the Garage. They just put in these amazing shared tables and booths. I passed the booths one day and went back two days later because I just had to sit in them. They are so inviting. Amazing. I hadn’t patronized that coffee shop in years, but a redesign helped regain my business. Kudos, Starbucks!