Say what you will about the actual coffee/drink quality, Starbucks used to be a chill hangout. When I worked there in the mid 2000's, they placed such a strong emphasis on being the "third place" that it was part of their day 1 training and constantly reiterated in their employee communication. They had comfy chairs, good music, a laid back atmosphere. We had regular customers that we knew very well and looked forward to taking to. The pace was relaxed and welcoming.
I left in 2011. Some time in the last 15 years they completely changed their approach. Many stores now have a drive-through. Mobile-order pickup with zero human interaction seems to be the most popular way to get your coffee. Everything is so fast, impersonal, and uniform. They've redesigned most of their stores to feel sterile and bland. Metal surfaces everywhere, no fun wall decor and comfy couches anymore. A minimalist, overly simple menu design with like 5 items on it. No encouragement to come and hang out - they just want to churn through customers and get them out of the store.
Very uncomfortable place to be nowadays and it's pretty sad to see.
I was working for a Starbucks kiosk up to a couple months ago, and they keep pushing “back to basics/third place” narrative, but wouldn’t put any of the actual work in. They didn’t redesign any locations to be more comfy, they keep churning out novelty drinks and emphasizing mobile orders. All they did was punish the baristas for, like, not having long enough eye contact or perfect drizzle technique.
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u/_windfish_ 8h ago
Starbucks.
Say what you will about the actual coffee/drink quality, Starbucks used to be a chill hangout. When I worked there in the mid 2000's, they placed such a strong emphasis on being the "third place" that it was part of their day 1 training and constantly reiterated in their employee communication. They had comfy chairs, good music, a laid back atmosphere. We had regular customers that we knew very well and looked forward to taking to. The pace was relaxed and welcoming.
I left in 2011. Some time in the last 15 years they completely changed their approach. Many stores now have a drive-through. Mobile-order pickup with zero human interaction seems to be the most popular way to get your coffee. Everything is so fast, impersonal, and uniform. They've redesigned most of their stores to feel sterile and bland. Metal surfaces everywhere, no fun wall decor and comfy couches anymore. A minimalist, overly simple menu design with like 5 items on it. No encouragement to come and hang out - they just want to churn through customers and get them out of the store.
Very uncomfortable place to be nowadays and it's pretty sad to see.