A new parking spot has been created for delivery drivers and takeout customers at the Starbucks inside the Hyatt Regency Bethesda hotel at 7400 Wisconsin Avenue. The sign that was just installed allows 5 minutes of parking for Starbucks. Of course, a five minute limit assumes that the delivery is ready to go and that the driver doesn't have to get in line with customers to receive the parcel.
When the hotel added the Starbucks in 2018, the pandemic and ensuing delivery craze were still two years away, and not forseen by many. The chain's decision to intentionally reject its role as a comfortable "third place" where customers would linger while sipping beverages, after a 2018 bathroom-use racism scandal, only increased the customer switchover to takeout and delivery in the following years. Starbucks has recently indicated that this move was a mistake, and that it will refocus on the in-store experience in the coming months.
3 comments:
I'm not sure Starbucks decided to "intentionally reject" its role as a "'third place'" back then, or even to de-emphasize it. They soon announced that people didn't have to buy something to use their bathrooms.
They did move away from the third place concept, and there has been a wealth of media coverage and new CEO commentary regarding that shift, with the latter admitting it was a mistake.
You are correct, sir. My apologies.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/19/business/starbucks-mobile-orders-third-place/index.html
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