Why is it difficult to find a vacant seat when Starbucks Shanghai Bakery has been open for more than half a year?

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More than half a year after opening, it is still difficult to find a vacant seat at Starbucks Shanghai Bakery.

On December 6, 2017, Starbucks selected "Shanghai Bakery" officially opened in Nanjing West Road to welcome guests. This is the second and largest store in the world after the first Starbucks selection Bakery (Reserve Roastery) opened in Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks in 2014, covering an area of 2700 square meters, almost twice the size of Seattle stores.

All of a sudden, this Starbucks baking workshop on Nanjing West Road has become another popular scenic spot in Shanghai. This summer, Starbucks officially opened its flagship store of Zhenxuan Beijing Square in Beijing, but the total area of the three-story store is only 1040 square meters, less than half the size of the Shanghai baking workshop.

When it comes to Starbucks' high-end experience stores, the first reaction of the Chinese people is the Shanghai Bakery.

Over the past six months, you may have been brushed by the Starbucks white dome and giant coffee bean copper cans. But you may not know what kind of experience this Starbucks store will bring to you as the media and bloggers fade away.

Exactly, that's what we want to know this time.

Textbook site selection: mutual achievement with Xingye Taiguhui

In the afternoon of the weekday, we went to Starbucks Shanghai Bakery on Nanjing West Road. The workshop is located on Nanjing Road, where the average daily passenger flow is 1 million, and Xingye Taiguhui is the most conspicuous and prosperous location.

How conspicuous is this position?

It can be said that while we were waiting for the traffic lights across the street, about five of the more than 20 pedestrians waiting to cross the street picked up their mobile phones to photograph the stores of the baking workshop. Indeed, at this crossroads with huge traffic, it is difficult for ordinary people to visually ignore this huge store.

But the location of the baking workshop is much more than attracting attention.

Shanghai Xingye Taiguhui is a brand-new commercial real estate project in Shanghai in recent years. It is located in the Nanjing West Road business district in the heart of Shanghai, with its own high-end office buildings and hotels, as well as Jing'an Kerry and Henglong Square, which are in line with the market positioning of this high-end Starbucks store.

At first, Starbucks only planned to open an ordinary store of 400 square meters here, according to Interface News. At the time of the initial communication between the two sides, the Starbucks selection Bakery in Seattle had just begun to operate. Societe Generale Swire Exchange and Starbucks to explore more possibilities, and eventually provide a 2700 square meters of independent space, and has a very attractive business location.

"the location of this store is relatively independent, on the one hand, it needs independent space as a functional need for production and baking. On the other hand, it has a large area, considering that there are many bold and innovative design elements. " Societe Generale Swire Exchange said, "in addition, Societe Generale Taikoo Huibei Plaza is also a venue for crowds, where we hold all kinds of market activities to introduce our target audience for tenants and shopping malls." And Starbucks Bakery is right in front of this north square.

Combined with our observation in the store, the baking workshop and Swire Exchange did drain each other: people who had finished shopping at the mall were happy to take a rest at this unique Starbucks, while those who spent the afternoon at Starbucks went shopping for dinner.

After all, when you're hesitant to go out for a coffee shop, if it's in a mall that happens to be Mall, which owns a niche high-end brand, you'll probably decide to wear shoes.

The workshop is located on the southeast side of the intersection of Nanjing West Road and Shimen Road.

Real Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: baking coffee beans around you

Walking into the hall on the first floor of the baking workshop, people happen to clock in in one place: a huge copper can about two stories high, decorated with more than 1000 traditional Chinese seals and seal cutting patterns.

Fresh coffee beans are transported to the baking machine by transparent pipes on the roof, and the roasted cooked beans are transported through yellow pipes to storage cans at the bar. It's like being in a movie called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

"this bakery made our dream come true for 10 years," said Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz. "it was inspired by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We want to build such a romantic, multi-sensory theater that allows customers to put themselves in the shoes of how we find and bake the best coffee in the world. "

Obviously, Starbucks is not only using this as a flagship store, but also a coffee roaster. With industrial baking and dramatic cooking, customers can see with their own eyes how many green raw beans become the drinks in your hands.

For coffee lovers, this is indeed an irresistible scene.

Guided ordering, really no longer waiting in line?

Guided ordering is a major feature of the baking workshop. Here, you don't have to wait in line to order at the bar like other Starbucks stores. On every corner of the two floors, you can see clerks with similar Ipad ordering machines in their hands.

Just find the one closest to you and ask him to place an order.

Admittedly, in this giant store with thousands of square meters per floor, this guided ordering service is necessary and effective.

It is inconceivable that without these scattered clerks, the huge queues of all customers would be placed, and it would take customers several hours to queue up to place orders.

In addition, I also found another advantage of the guide point clerk in the store. When I looked at the menu wondering whether to order coffee or mixed wine, the girl who placed the order for me naturally recommended a mixed drink with coffee in the store-lime floating cold extract. Because there was no barrier to the table and no pressure from the queue behind us, we even chatted and happily completed the order.

Starbuck acid lemon floating cold extraction

This is a pleasant feeling left to me by the bakery.

However, if you place an order with the clerk on the first floor for tea or mixed drinks at the Chawana Teavana bar on the second floor, you need to go to the second floor for yourself. And if your friend has found a seat on the first floor, you have to carefully go to the second floor to bring down the drink before you can sit with your friends.

Immersion experience: Starbucks wants you to learn to make coffee

When I began to enjoy my lime float, the broadcast in the store prompted three times: the coffee teaching activity will begin this afternoon. Welcome to the bar. After walking through the crowd in the store and asking an uncertain clerk, I caught up with the event.

At the small bar at the door, the two clerks and teachers will teach you a drink in the store. This time it happens to be the lemon floating cold extract that I ordered. Watching the newly drunk drinks being made step by step, there is indeed an impulse to go home tonight. What's more, the shop assistant will tell you directly during each teaching step, "the filter in my hand can be bought directly on the left." there is a sense of TV shopping.

Finally, the clerk will choose a customer to make a drink and distribute it to everyone. This kind of small interaction makes several of our classmates feel good.

It can be seen that Starbucks' Shanghai baking workshop plays the role of boutique and high-end consumption to enhance customer experience.

As founder Howard Schultz puts it, Starbucks wants the Coffee Roaster to be a destination for coffee lovers, rather than a place to stop in shopping malls.

After walking around, you can feel that every detail shows Starbucks' intention: don't drink and leave. Come here and experience the coffee.

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