Submitted by Melissa Wildstein on | 0 Comments
Now while you're getting your mid-afternoon Red Eye with an extra shot pick-me-up at Starbucks, the guy behind you might have a different kind of buzz in mind. Yup, Starbucks has announced that they're going to be expanding into the land of adult beverages. Apparently they've been doing a test pilot with a couple of shops in Portland, Oregon and the idea of turning the coffee bar into well just a bar has it's appeal. Stores in CA and Atlanta, GA will be the first to carry the new 'product line'.
There are reasons of course for doing so and Starbucks is trying to figure out how to increase their revenues at a particularly 'slow' time of day. But one has to ask - is it possible for brand extensions to go too far? Starbucks first did just coffee, then pasteries, then breakfast sandwiches, then coffeepots and mugs and music, sandwiches and cheese trays, water, then instant coffee. They've bought up a juice bar and now this. Who and what is Starbucks trying to be to their consumer? They were always said to have postioned themselves as 'the third place'. That place that you could go that wasn't the office and wasn't home, but some place that you could go and relax and unwind and have a cup of coffee. I don't know about you, but the dynamic completely changes for me if I'm go to Starbucks and see a group of drunken frat boys in the corner. Somehow I think I'll be taking my grande no whip extra hot caramel macchiato to go.
