In March of 2014, Starbucks and Disney teamed up to open the first company-operated Starbucks location at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, California. Now, another Starbucks will open at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida.
The nearly 4,000 square foot store is a new venture in the collaboration between the two brands.
For the first time, Starbucks is connecting customers through in-store interactive touchscreens. The 70-inch digital display panels – one in each Starbucks store – use built-in cameras to create chalk sketches of guests and their surroundings. Customers in the Disney World Starbucks will be able to interact with those in the Disneyland location.
"We know the value of having that moment of connection over coffee,” says David Daniels, lead designer of the new store. “This is the beginning of connecting our stores globally through technology so you could share a cup of coffee from coast-to-coast.”
The space includes artwork of metallic Venetian plaster that depicts the Starbucks coffee origin story.
The new site is also Starbucks 500th LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) store. The standard, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, is a rating system for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of green buildings.
Among the elements of sustainable design at the new store: 100 percent energy-efficient LED lighting; reclaimed oak, maple and other materials used throughout the store; community tables made from salvaged trees; a green roof consisting of hundreds of lemon grass plants.
“We had all the grass grown in a nursery and we fed it with compost from our coffee grounds from a nearby Starbucks store, " Daniels says.
Industrial designer and artist Paloma Teppa, based in Miami, created a replica of the Starbucks Siren logo out of moss at the new location.
The location is also the first Starbucks Reserve Store at the resort, offering rare small-batch coffees from around the world. The store is equipped with the Clover Brewing System and four Mistrena espresso machines. Bar seating encourages interaction between Starbucks baristas and customers. The store also has an expansive food case, and 30 Starbucks partners (employees) per shift serving customers.
Daniels, who has spent the past few days getting the store ready to open, says his favorite part of designing a Starbucks is when partners arrive to stock the store.
“They’re so important in creating a space that people want to be in,” he says. “That’s what this is all about for me.”
