Starbucks Considers a Wider Range of Store Designs

Starbucks is dusting off an idea it had before the pandemic: Delivery-only locations.

The Seattle-based coffee giant, which has seen delivery demand increase this year even as many other chains see weakness there, is considering a wider range of store types as it works to adapt its real estate strategy to better meet customers’ needs.

“When we think about our opportunity in the future, it’s how we leverage our portfolio to unlock capacity, but in a way that best meets the customer needs and demands,” CFO Rachel Ruggeri told investors on Tuesday at the TD Cowen Future of the Consumer Conference, according to a transcript on the financial services site Sentieo/AlphaSense. “So that’s going to be different versions of drive-thru stores. It’s going to be delivery-only stores as well as different versions of pickup stores.”