It was a difficult day at work and you want a drink to take the edge off. Do you head home for a glass of your signature drink, or head to a bar? I’m thinking Starbucks!
Based on success rates at stores in Seattle and Portland, select locations of Starbucks Coffee will now be selling beer and wine along with their overpriced coffee.
I am thinking it is a bit dangerous for a place with a drive-thru to provide alcohol to its customers, but hey, who doesn’t want a beer with their coffee?
Chicago will have five of these wet Starbucks by the end of 2012, according to Virginia Smith, reporter for NERVE. Locations in Atlanta and Southern California will also be opening soon.
Starbucks is already an institution that people fiend for, so now our addictions to Starbucks can only go up from here.
“I go there several times a week and I don’t care if they serve alcohol or not,” Brenna Meath, a sophomore majoring in marine science and biology, said.
An official from the company told NERVE that, “As our customers transition from work to home, many are looking for a warm and inviting place to unwind and connect with the people they care about.”
It looks like Starbucks is trying to appeal to every liquid need their customers have. I think this starboozing, as I like to call it, will attract an even broader consumer base because the product is, well, broader. Those who do not necessarily like coffee can now also go to Starbucks to sit and relax just like the coffee drinkers of the world.
What else can Starbucks provide? I think they should add a hotel in the back of every store for those who cannot make it home or those who merely do not want to go home.
They have fancy sandwiches and delicious cake lollipops. Maybe they should put in a full-on deli section or a buffet so people can really chow down.
Starbucks is a popular place for people to go, kick back, read, surf the web and get work done. They are now inviting beer and wine drinkers, as well as their already established coffee lovers.
“I never ever go to Starbucks because I hate coffee and I bought a hot chocolate there the other day, which is the second thing I’ve purchased from them in my life,” sophomore accounting major, Mitch Nostrand, said. “If they started selling beer it would be way overpriced, but it would make me more likely to go with friends when I can get a beer and they drink coffee.”
Nostrand makes a good point that Starbucks’ client base will grow with starboozing, but what about those who do not like drinking or do not want to be around it? In that aspect, Starbucks may lose customers because of their new money-making scheme.
“I do not go to Starbucks often, but I think they should not [sell booze] seeing as they are well known for coffee. Also, it would make Starbucks a little less of a family spot,” Timothy Nmadu, freshman management major, said.
In my experience I do not see many families going to Starbucks, but on the same token, parents do bring their children with them to buy their coffee, so why not a drink as well? It is really up to the parent to decipher their own drinking habits around their kids and what example they set.
“I go to Starbucks probably a couple times a month,” Victoria Havard, freshman majoring in psychology, said. “I think it is a bad idea to sell alcohol at a place where I want to relax and have a cup of coffee. Alcohol changes peoples’ behavior. Starbucks is a place to relax and try to get some work done.”
There is no word about a time when they will stop selling alcohol, so I am left to assume it either varies by state, or goes along with regular service hours.
On a similar note, Sommer SanFilippo, freshman elementary education major, said, “When drinking alcohol, it is normally at a bar scene, a more party, chatty-like atmosphere, which is completely different from Starbucks.”
Another good point, but the other side to that statement could argue that not all drinkers get drunk.
It is completely common and acceptable to sit with a couple of beers or glasses of wine without ending up belligerent. Obviously, a person must be 21 or older to purchase the alcohol Starbucks will provide and I highly doubt underage folks will start trying to swindle the company into getting extra expensive drinks.
When people go out, the clubs and bars take care of emptying their wallets. College students will not go somewhere they know they will not be served, so I do not think Starbucks will have a problem with underage drinkers. That said, those who go for a drink at Starbucks are adults, and are hopefully responsible with their drinking, behavior and expenses.
Anna Westerholm can be reached at anna.westerholm@spartans.ut.edu.