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Starbucks is expanding its "community" store concept throughout the world as part of a new promise to make its stores more inclusive — and accessible.
The coffee company revealed ambitions to grow its community shop footprint to 1,000 locations globally by 2030, both by constructing new stores and rebranding existing ones, ahead of its annual shareholder meeting. There are now 150 community stores.
The approach creates "pathways to opportunity" for employees by providing focused programs and experiences that boost economic opportunities in the local community. Since its inception in 2015, the community concept has expanded to incorporate a variety of store models all across the world. Local hiring, dedicated space for communities to get together for events, engaging with local artists, and working with diverse contractors and sub-contractors are all priorities in the US locations, as is supporting service personnel, veterans, and military families.
Starbucks will use the American Human Development Index (HDI), produced and estimated by Measure of America (MoA), a Social Science Research Council effort, to determine where its community locations in the United States may best provide value and better support disadvantaged populations. The retailer said it will use the data to help it decide where and how to build its community store portfolio in the United States.
Standards for Accessible Design
Starbucks stated it is promising to create, test, and scale more accessible design standards and experiences throughout its retail portfolio, citing the fact that one in every four American adults has a disability and that everyone experiences changes in their physical or mental health. Speech-to-text technology, which gives a live visual display of speech for employees and customers to reference when placing or picking up an item, is now being tested in certain retail locations.
It's also putting order readiness notifications to the test with a customer order status board that shows an update and certifies when an order is ready visually.
The program will begin in the United States and then grow globally, with the goal of ensuring that all Starbucks locations, both physical and digital, achieve a high standard of accessibility by 2030.
"By establishing new methods to communicate both visually and audibly and by delivering more tools to help customers traverse physical shop surroundings, these standards will empower customers with more options to enjoy both their in-store and digital Starbucks experiences," the firm added.
These initiatives build on earlier improvements in accessible design made in the previous year. Starbucks has provided a free Aira service since 2021, which connects persons who are blind or have limited vision with trained, professional visual interpreters who provide rapid access to visual information about the customer's surroundings via a smartphone app. Starbucks also offers a variety of menu formats, including large-print and Braille menus, in all of its shops in the United States and Canada.
Starbucks has 11 "signing stores" across the world.
Starbucks' expanded pledges come at a time when the business is fighting a labor dispute that shows no signs of abating.
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