The world’s biggest Starbucks is opening its doors in Shanghai
Coffee giant Starbucks has officially opened its biggest ever coffee shop in China.
Over two floors, Starbuck’s Shanghai Roastery is the size of a soccer field and is said to be the brand’s most hi-tech store yet.
Located on Nanjing Road West, the city’s most famous shopping street, the 30,000 sq ft store will offer customers a high-end experience and will include a “Reserve roastery” which will allow customers to watch beans being roasted.
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On offer will be around 80 new coffee and tea products that are unique to the new Roastery.
It will also host the Teavana Bar - its first outlet in China which specifically offers a range of Chinese teas.
“The affinity we have built with our partners and customers over the past 18 years in China is special and we knew we must bring the Reserve Roastery, our boldest, most premium store ever, to Shanghai,” said founder and chairman, Howard Schultz.
China is seen as a promising market for Starbucks as the coffee giant tries to expand outside of the saturated US market.
Starbucks’ global growth has been sluggish recently but China could hold the answer.
In the last fiscal year up to October, revenue from the Asia-Pacific region accounted for almost 15% of total revenue.
Partnering with e-commerce giant Alibaba, the Roastery will be “the first fully immersive coffee experience in Asia” combining coffee appreciation with a state-of-the-art augmented reality (AR) system.
Customers can use Alibaba’s site to book coffee tasting experiences and buy special “Reserve” products.
In order to target the upmarket coffee segment, Starbucks also plans to open more roastery cafes in New York, Tokyo and Italy.
In 2019, the company has also planned to build an even bigger store, announcing plans for a 43,0000 sq ft Reserve Roastery in Chicago in 2019.
