Roastery Reflections
At BEL, we like to experience the current state of retail for ourselves so that we better understand the landscape and see the obstacles brands are facing. Our reoccurring retail walkabouts involve an afternoon of field research scoping out the latest and greatest retail displays, paying special attention to new, tech-driven retail solutions. This hands-on delve into the current retail climate allows BEL to better assess and provide top-end retail solutions for different brands’ needs. Check-in on Retail Roundup every other Monday for updates and insights from our walkabouts!
Whether you grab it every morning or you’re a diehard small-coffee-shop-only fan, there is little to debate when it comes to the incredible success Starbucks has built for itself. In our latest retail walkabout, we visited the Starbucks Roastery Reserve in NYC to examine how Starbucks is creating an immersive experience for its clients.
Starbucks started opening its Reserve Roasteries in 2014, with its first location opening in Seattle. New York City’s location opened in Chelsea four years later, in December 2018. While our walkabout centered around the NYC location, our marketing coordinator has visited the Shanghai Reserve Roastery, allowing us to compare and contrast both locations.
The first thing we noticed about the NYC reserve was its strong homages to its home city. Minute details such as a railway-station style Solari board and the card wall spelling out N-Y-C create a true-themed experience that standard Starbucks’ lack. Similarly, the Shanghai Roastery added specialized touches as a nod to Shanghai. Most notably, the roasting drum in the center of the Shanghai reserve is covered in over 1000 hand-carved copper panels that tell the origin story of Starbucks. The bar tops, colored deep green, are inspired by traditional, ancient green clay teapots, to add to Shanghai’s sustainability and recycling push over the last few years, the bars are 3D printed on recycled materials. While the average Starbucks feels copy-and-pasted across the world, the tailored décor inside the Roastery Reserve makes for a grounding experience amongst all the dazzle, reminding patrons of the beauty of the city that is hosting them.
Beyond the décor and dazzle of the Roasteries and into the world of technology, both locations offer AR experiences for their customers. Utilizing a phone, customers can scan into the roasting drum and can virtually watch the newly roasted beans drop into the cask. The AR feature goes through all the different steps in the beans’ journey before being brewed, including the beans resting in the drum and running through the copper pipes to their appropriate barista stands. In addition to watching the movement of the bean throughout the store, customers can gather hidden information throughout the store by pointing the same camera at key features throughout the Roastery. These include bonuses such as virtual badges that translate into rewards. The inclusion of the AR feature, specifically at the Roastery locations, achieves the goal of indulging the customer further into the story of coffee.