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Is Starbucks’ Focus on Store Ambiance a Sign of Future Trends?
Starbucks is making changes to improve guests’ coffee shop experience. The company is working on reducing noise inside its stores and enhancing accessibility for all customers.
To tackle the noise issue, Starbucks plans to install acoustic dampening baffles or foams in the ceilings of new U.S. locations and about 1,000 renovated stores. This change aims to make the environment quieter, helping both customers and employees.
The ceiling baffles in the coffee chain’s newly designed and updated stores are designed to minimize background noise and echoes by absorbing sound. This not only aids guests — particularly those with hearing impairments — in communication but also reduces the ambient noise that can make it more difficult for baristas to comprehend customer orders.
“Imagine you’ve got all that background noise happening, and then you’ve got a window open in front of you, and you’re trying to communicate with a customer.”
Sara Trilling, president of Starbucks North America, via Bloomberg
For customers with hearing aids, the acoustic dampening baffles will minimize noise and reverberations, making it easier for those using assisted listening devices to communicate and enjoy their time in the store.
In addition to noise reduction, Starbucks plans to improve the visual experience by adding adjustable lighting with dimmers and power screens on exterior windows. These enhancements will reduce daytime glare and shadows inside the store, creating a more comfortable environment for everyone.
In terms of accessibility, Starbucks is rolling out new store designs that cater to customers with various needs. These designs include an overhanging shelf to provide extra room for customers using wheelchairs, power chairs, strollers, or service dogs. The company is also implementing a point-of-sale system that transcribes customer orders and installing power-operated doors with longer vertical buttons.
For blind or low-vision guests, Starbucks added the Aira app, which offers visual interpreters to guide them through the store.
The first Starbucks location featuring these new accessibility features opened in Washington, D.C., in February. With these changes, Starbucks aims to create a more inclusive and enjoyable experience for all customers and partners.
Designing a retail environment requires decision-makers to take into account many different factors that influence customer behavior. To find the right ambiance for a business, retailers must first figure out who their target audience is and what they expect. Stores can examine the average age group of their customers, as different age groups have different shopping habits and needs.
Retailers can’t always please every customer. Experts have identified different shopper types, and they often want very different things from their in-store experience despite potentially shopping in the same stores. Not to mention other factors such as income, gender, and culture, which can also influence how people interpret the atmosphere.
Starbucks is enhancing its coffee shop experience by reducing noise, improving accessibility, and optimizing ambiance through lighting and design. These changes not only prioritize customer comfort and inclusivity but also highlight how retail ambiance affects customer experiences.
Discussion Questions
How do Starbucks’ recent design changes reflect broader shifts in consumer expectations toward inclusivity and sensory comfort in retail environments?
Considering the diverse needs of different shopper types, how can retailers strike a balance between creating a universally inclusive environment like Starbucks’ and catering to niche preferences to enhance customer satisfaction?
As technology continues to play a pivotal role in enhancing retail experiences, how can innovations like the Aira app integrated by Starbucks influence the future of accessibility and customer engagement in physical retail spaces?
Poll
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Brian Numainville
Principal, The Feedback Group
James Tenser
Retail Tech Marketing Strategist | B2B Expert Storytelling™ Guru | President, VSN Media LLC
These days there is much greater awareness of people who are sensitive to sound, light and other stimuli. We see this with the rise in quiet and distraction free shopping hours at some of the major chains. Obviously it can be difficult to cater to the precise needs of everyone but the steps Starbucks is taken are sensible and create a more inclusive environment. They also fit into the general category of creating a pleasant ambience – something some retailers with their harsh lighting and cluttered stores should take note of!
Retail is experiential. When the environment isn’t pleasant, that’s a big detractor. Great to see Starbucks focus on making the store environment more inclusive and more pleasant!
I’m a little disappointed at the focus here – of the Poll question, and the article itself, tho not the Discussion suggestion – in that it seems preoccupied with what this says about, or how it affects Starbucks, as opposed to being a harbinger of industry-wide changes.The former is pretty simple: a mature retailer finetuning its business model. But the latter opens up a lot of possibilities…tho we’ll have to argue about exactly what industry we’re talking about.
Every Starbucks customer has a different agenda. Some use Starbucks as their office space, others as a gathering place to meet friends, or just somewhere to sit down and enjoy a few minutes of coffee and quiet time.
Making its public spaces more accessible for those with special needs is admirable. Obviously, anything Starbucks does to enhance the customer experience will be welcomed, even if customers are not consciously aware that those enhancements are happening.
Starbucks’ design changes show the chain cares about customers’ comfort by offering accessible multisensory experiences that minimize sensory overload.
These measures promote inclusivity so everyone feels welcome, at ease and eager to keep coming back to their tranquil third place.
On one hand Starbucks is opening mostly new stores with drive through only but it appears now Starbucks is also changing over to new in-store designs and modifications. This is just a bit confusing.
But with regards to the new “inclusive” design, it seems too “perfect” to be true.
It’s all good and might establish a new trend where space and resources allow.
But I’m more inclined to believe that only a very small percentage of Starbucks stores will be setup this way for a long time to come. Db
Exactly. I have seen new stores being mostly drive thru as well with small to no sitting space, so this is a change (which is good) but what will be the overall direction of the chain?
The changes in accessibility are commendable. That said, another message suggests SBX hasn’t forgiven its roots.
Based on several of our last discussions, I had the impression that SBX was close to abandoning the ambiance that Howard Schultz embraced. All we seemed to talk about was mobile ordering and pick-up windows. For SBX, that is fine. It sells coffee. But there is no difference from the other 16,000 competing coffee shops. For me, SBX was always a respite.
For years, Starbucks was considered the third-place in people’s lives, a known place with a consistent experience where we could take a break or make a connection in person. Then Starbucks became the most convenient, and seamless way to get a hot or cold drink. However, all of the numerous quick pick-ups create a lot of commotion and noise, ruining the ambiance for those that have the goal of relaxing and enjoying their third place.
Their tagline is, “Insipiring and Nurturing the Human Spirit”. Their moves to enhance the experience through noise reduction and make it easier and more accessible for everyone to be at Starbucks aligns to the tagline sentiment. We live in a busy but disconnected society; many people are very busy and also are alone. A more thoughtful design and aspired experience such as they outline can help meet the current needs of all of their customers while creating more differentiation vs. their competitors.
Well said. In many places, the drive thru has replaced the ability to sit down and enjoy the experience. Unfortunately, that has taken front and center, as you said, to the legacy experience where you could take a break or make a connection. At least these new design and experience elements, where deployed, might bring some of that back to the forefront.
Recall years ago, Starbucks positioned itself as the “third place” between home & work. On the go, drive thru & mobile ordering moved the needle from the comfort of the coffee shop to the convenience & speed of service. While the convenience & speed segment is still primary focus, the noted ambience enhancements should not negatively affect these goals & should provide a welcome upgrade to the dine-in customer.
Forgive me if I am a little jaundice of this one. Last week I was in the St. Louis airport waiting for an associate before going to a client call. I has roughly 40 minutes to wait, so I stopped in the airport Starbucks for a Venti tea. The barista handed me the cup which was filled to the brim with literally scalding hot water, was not double cupped, and had a lose lid. As soon as I took it from her the lose lid shot off, the scalding water went all over my right hand – almost immediately raising blisters of all of my fingers, and I dropped the cup all over the floor. The barista then came around the counter and started mopping it up. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “This happens all the time here.” I called “Customer Service” and reached a woman who was obviously trying to take care of a small child while talking to me. She referred me to an “Incident Manager” who spoke heavily accented English. “Here is what I can do for you,” see said. “I am putting $50 on your card. Have a beautiful day.” I salute Starbucks’ efforts toward inclusion but I think they also have some basic blocking and tackling to do in the stores and in terms of customer service. Nothing says, “Have a beautiful day,” more than sustaining second-degree burns on the way to an all-day meeting.
Ryan, do you live in St. Louis?
The experience at Starbucks airport locations have seemingly never been as good as the other stores, for whatever all the reasons are. I think long-time faithful customers adjusted expectations years ago. But that still doesn’t solve the overall experience gap, or from your unfortunate example.
Even though I did not vote this way, the first thing they can do is simple-just turn the music down. Too many Starbucks have the sound on so loud that conversation is difficult, much less thinking. As to improved lighting and ambience in general, Starbucks moves are a great example of constant innovation, and making the experience engaging over time.
Regarding figuring out and catering too everyone’s different needs, if Starbucks gets that right it potentially opens up opportunities to increase market share. A good thing all around.
The drive-through experience excluded, this is what Starbucks is known for—or at least was known for. And, it doesn’t surprise me that they are improving the accessibility experience. It’s good they don’t rest on their past success.
So many restaurants and bars should be paying attention to this. Conversation with one’s tablemates adds to the enjoyment of the meal, or is the point of getting together – if I can’t hear them across the table, why would I patronize the business? I get it if you need a tile or wood floor, but turn down the music / TV broadcasts, and install baffles & dampeners. (I’m looking at you, Pagoda in Roseville, MN – a great dim sum place otherwise…)
Starbuck’s “third place” heritage has been seriously displaced in my mind by what I know call the “queueing place.”
It is baffling to me why (apparently loyal) customers are willing to stand and wait many minutes to order and pick up their drinks. Yes, pre-ordering on the app can help some, but it makes for a tense atmosphere that I prefer to avoid.
Considering the ambient din, Starbucks is no longer the environment I choose to meet a business contact for a cup or sit with my laptop to answer a few emails. I get the strong feeling they don’t want me there either.
Efforts to quiet the soundscape are welcome, and Starbucks should be commended for its intent. With a business model that today prizes sheer throughput above hospitality, however, I feel this is a very minor improvement.
Good to see Starbucks improving the customer experience to be accessible for all. Historically they were leaders in design, visual, and experiential cues in the elevated simple art of making, enjoying coffee. Other coffee and donut chains have caught up in recent years.
Example, most recently on a visit having coffee with an elderly person, it was almost impossible to hear in conversation from excessive noise. Sound dampening really only needs be over seating areas, not the entire store. Because there is something magical in the sound of echoing espresso machines, steam, metal utensils and baristas filling orders.
Maybe retailers and restaurants can learn from Amtrak’s Quiet Car ….