10 where was the first starbucks in chicago Ideas

When the Starbucks Reserve^® Roastery opens in Chicago next week, it will be a crowning moment for the company’s three decades in the city. But its success was anything but assured — it took a big gamble, a little convincing, and a few lucky breaks to make it in Chicago … and the world.

Almost exactly 32 years ago, a tiny
notice appeared in the Chicago Tribune’s weekly entertainment section. Past the
review of a Def Leppard concert and the movie listings for “Fatal Attraction”
and “The Princess Bride,” there’s a bullet under Restaurant Notes that reads, “Starbucks
Coffee decided Chicago is the place to start a national expansion.” The
announcement about the opening of Starbucks first store in the city was
followed by a reminder to readers that the last Seattle business to try to break
into the Chicago food and beverage market closed after just a few months.

With only 11 stores in Seattle and Vancouver,
B.C., Starbucks had bet its future on Chicago, eager to prove its allure could
extend beyond the Pacific Northwest. Howard Schultz recalled in his book, “Pour
Your Heart Into It,” that most business experts advised against expanding to
Chicago before establishing a stronger regional base in the Northwest. “Chicagoans,
I was told, would never drink dark-roasted coffee,” he wrote. “But … we jumped
feet first into Chicago, so in love with our product that we couldn’t imagine
that everybody else wouldn’t love it, too.”

It wasn’t exactly an auspicious start.
The opening of its store at 219 W. Jackson, in the business district called the
Loop, on October 19, 1987 just happened to be “Black Monday,” the day the stock
market crashed.

“But it was a disaster for other
reasons,” Schultz wrote. “I didn’t realize that to be successful in Chicago’s
Loop we needed to open into a lobby. Because the winters are so cold and windy,
no one wants to walk outside to get a cup of coffee.” The location would close less
than three years later.

But the company would go on to open
two new stores downtown in 1987, learning along the way. The next year, the Tribune
would take notice of what it calls the “greening” of Chicago, with the appearance
of the Starbucks logo popping up storefronts around town, including a spacious
location downtown on Rush Street. America’s interest in specialty coffee is
starting to “perk up,” it declared.

Dai Ichikawa, a 30-year Starbucks partner
who works in Store Development, started with the company as a barista in 1989
at the Lake Forest store on the North Shore, its fourth location in the Chicago
area and first in the suburbs. Working weekends in college, he scooped
fresh-roasted coffee shipped from Seattle into bags and made espresso beverages
at the bar. “Your choices were latte, cappuccino, latte macchiato, americano,
and the brewed coffee of the day,” he said. “There was no such thing as a
Frappuccino. There were no ovens. Cookies were delivered from a local bakery
and put into glass jars.”

His store didn’t have soft seating then, just had wooden stools and tall café tables — but it still felt like a community. “We were so small then, customers assumed we were a local company,” he said.

Cup by cup, customer by customer — word about Starbucks began to get around. Although the company struggled financially in the city in these early years, the business began to turn a corner in 1990 as the company found ways to improve the economics of each store, added kiosks in Dominick’s grocery stores and expanded its whole-bean coffee business to restaurants. Employees (who would soon be called partners) rallied around its new mission statement, “To establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles as we grow.”

Ichikawa worked as a manager trainee in
one of these kiosks once he finished college, introducing thousands of new
customers to Starbucks and convincing them to swap the cans of coffee in their
grocery carts for a fresh-roasted bag from Starbucks. His father, who came from
the restaurant business, had advised him against his new career path. “Trust
me,” Ichikawa told his dad. “There’s something different about this company.
It’s more than just a coffee shop.”

By 1992, when the company was about to
go public, it was safe to say Chicago had embraced Starbucks as its own. One
article from the time noted how Chicagoans were now “clutching Starbucks to-go
mugs, speaking to each other in Starbucks code: ‘Want to go for a grande skim
dry decaf latte?’”

Have coffee, will travel

Chicago helped the brand take flight in more ways than one. In 1993, the company opened its first store at Chicago’s O’Hare airport with a licensed location in Terminal 3, which quickly became one of the busiest locations in the company. Ten more O’Hare locations would open in the next five years, with hundreds of travelers trying Starbucks for the first time there each day, then picking up pounds of Starbucks^® Gold Coast Blend coffee (created to honor Chicago) to bring to home to destinations around the world.

New experiences

The city would also go on to become a proving ground for new customer experiences — large and small. In 1995, Chicago became home to the world’s largest Starbucks (for a time) when its Rush Street store moved into a 4,000+ square-foot space with comfy chairs and a fireplace. The store would move again in 2012 (this time across the street) to a two-story space to become the first store east of Seattle to adopt the company’s new, more environmentally conscious, store design approach. Store designer Jill Enomoto used the store as a showcase for this transformative store design strategy which improved the environmental performance of the store (which became officially LEED certified 2016) and connected customers to the story of coffee and conversation. They reimagined the design of the coffee bar to include manual espresso machine and pour-over brewing along a long, low bar with stools that invited customers to stay and chat with baristas — elements that have been adopted into future Starbucks Reserve coffee bars and roastery locations.

“Oak
& Rush is a very special store for the company,” Enomoto said. “It gave a
different coffee experience to the customer where they were encouraged to
linger, get a second or third cup and then really kind of have a different
coffee experience. It was this great opportunity to do a little bit of a shift.”
­

In 2016, Chicago also opened one of the company’s smallest stand-alone locations, in Union Station. The compact 635-square-foot
express concept store used a new high-tech ordering and service model to allow
busy train passengers to grab their coffee and go at record speed.  “We know customers in Chicago love the coffee
experience, which makes this the perfect place for Starbucks to try new things,”
said Chicago district manager Dan Dehmlow.

Later that year, Starbucks also opened
a Community Store in the Englewood neighborhood
of Chicago’s South Side as part of
its program to open stores in diverse urban communities across the United
States. “Opening in Englewood is not just an opportunity to grow our business,
but to be part of a local solution for social change,” said Rodney Hines,
director for U.S. Social Impact.

Coming full circle

Now in 2019, Starbucks is coming back to Chicago to open what will once again be the largest Starbucks in the world with the Starbucks Reserve™ Roastery.  The stunning five-story location on downtown’s Michigan Avenue will celebrate everything Chicago and Starbucks have built together over the last 30 years — the experience, the craft, and the coffee.

Enomoto, who is now a vice president
leading the Chicago Roastery’s design, can’t wait to unveil the company’s
newest coffee showcase on Nov. 15. “From design and construction to all the
operational training, for us it’s extremely rewarding. We are excited about
what we’re about to launch,” she said.

Starbucks president and chief
executive officer Kevin Johnson also gave a hint to what’s ahead on Starbucks
earnings call last week when he called it “a beautifully designed, iconic”
store.  “I can’t wait to celebrate this
opening with our partners and customers,” he said.

For Ichikawa, opening the Chicago
Roastery represents a full-circle moment, almost exactly 30 years after he
first started with the company.  

“With Chicago, it’s just so appropriate to have a Roastery here,” he said. “I’m sure the partners are so excited to have this in their hometown. It’s a hometown for them as well.”

Timeline

October 19, 1987

First Starbucks in Chicago opens at
219 W. Jackson in the Loop.

The company introduces the bold Starbucks
Gold Coast Blend®, named after the historic Gold Coast neighborhood along Lake
Michigan’s shores.

June 1992

Buoyed by its success in Chicago, Starbucks goes public on June 26, 1992 at 27 cents per share,
adjusted for six subsequent two-for-one stock splits.

October 1995

Chicago becomes home to the world’s
largest Starbucks to date when its Rush Street store relocates to a 4,000+
square-foot space.

December 2012

The Rush Street store moves again to
the corner of Oak & Rush at 1003 N. Rush Street.

August 2015

Chicago hosts the 100,000
Opportunities Initiative’s first hiring fair. The event draws more than 4,000 young people
and marks the official launch of the coalition committed to engaging 100,000
young people in jobs, internships and apprenticeships.

April 2016

September 2016

Starbucks opens a store
and training center in Chicago’s South Side
in Englewood on 63^rd and Halsted. The store is part of Starbucks
nationwide initiative to support local economic development in diverse,
low-to-medium-income communities.

April 2017

Starbucks Reserve Bar opens its doors
in Wrigleyville,
home of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. It is the third Starbucks Reserve coffee
bar in the Chicago area after Lake Forest
and Wicker Park.

September 2018

September 2019

Starbucks comes back to Chicago for Leadership Experience 2019, bringing together 12,000 store managers and field
leaders for what Starbucks ceo Kevin Johnson calls “a defining milestone in our
journey.”

October 2019

Starbucks announces a $10 million investment to help community development financial institutions (CDFIs) revitalize struggling neighborhoods on the city’s South and West Sides.

November 2019

Jennifer
Warnick contributed to this report.

• Author: stories.starbucks.com

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• Sumary: When the Starbucks Reserve Roastery opens in Chicago next week, it will be a crowning moment for the company’s three decades in the Windy City.

• Matching Result: The chain’s first Chicago location opened in the city’s Loop on Oct. 19, 1987. Now, Starbucks is doing it again with its new Starbucks Reserve …

• Intro: Starbucks in Chicago: Roastery opening brings journey full circleWhen the Starbucks Reserve® Roastery opens in Chicago next week, it will be a crowning moment for the company’s three decades in the city. But its success was anything but assured — it took a big gamble, a little convincing, and a…

• Source: https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/starbucks-in-chicago-roastery-opening-brings-journey-full-circle/

• Author: chicagotribune.com

• Rating: 4⭐ (625844 rating)

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• Sumary: Welcome to Starbucks Light: No seating, no Frappuccinos and (hopefully) less waiting.

• Matching Result: It can be accessed through entrances at Adams Street and Jackson Boulevard. The Chicago location is the fifth such store for Starbucks since the …

• Intro: Chicago’s first Starbucks ‘express’ store opens in Union StationWelcome to Starbucks Light: No seating, no Frappuccinos and (hopefully) less waiting.Starbucks opened its first “express” store in Chicago at Union Station on Thursday, a store the size of a studio apartment with a stripped-down menu and two-step ordering system to handle…

• Source: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-starbucks-express-union-station-0421-biz-20160420-story.html

• Author: chicagotribune.com

• Rating: 4⭐ (625844 rating)

• Highest Rate: 5⭐

• Lowest Rate: 2⭐

• Sumary: Just as theater producers recognized years ago that if it played in Peoria, it would play anywhere, retailers know that Chicago, with its diverse neighborhoods and no-nonsense sensibility, is an ideal place to test new retail ideas.

• Matching Result: Starbucks opened its first Chicago shop at 111 W. Jackson Blvd. in the Loop on Oct. 19, 1987, near the Chicago Board of Trade.

• Intro: Chicago key to Starbucks’ broader buzzJust as theater producers recognized years ago that if it played in Peoria, it would play anywhere, retailers know that Chicago, with its diverse neighborhoods and no-nonsense sensibility, is an ideal place to test new retail ideas.Howard Schultz, founder and chairman of Starbucks Corp., discovered…

• Source: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-08-18-0708170558-story.html

• Author: usatoday.com

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• Sumary: The largest Starbucks in the world, the Reserve Roastery Chicago, opens on Magnificent Mile in Chicago on Nov. 15.

• Matching Result: The first Starbucks shop in Chicago was opened in 1987 after II Giornale acquired Starbucks. The store was located outside the Pacific Northwest.

• Intro: World’s largest Starbucks opens Friday in Chicago. What to know about the Reserve RoasteryCorrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of Shiami Ranasinghe and misstated Starbucks’ first airport location, which was at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.CHICAGO – The largest Starbucks in the world opened Friday in the Windy City.The…

• Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2019/11/13/chicago-starbucks-reserve-roastery-open-magnificent-mile-nov-15/4099337002/