Hasta La Ideas

At the start of this month, we reported on coffee chain Starbucks‘ decision to start a massive redesign program among many of their company-owned stores. Their plan was to make everything LEED-certified while simultaneously attempting to break away from the sterile, every-store-looks-the-same concept that had served them for the past decade of explosive growth. PSFK popped in when their first new store just opened in New York, called 15th Avenue E, which is almost completely devoid of any mention of being a Starbucks, save for the very bizarre sign on the door “Inspired by Starbucks” (if you’re trying to start anew or look like an independent, why on earth would you write such a thing?). While they’re nice looking digs, it certainly feels like a “if you can’t beat ’em, swipe their look and join ’em” type of move. PSFK returned to the scene just yesterday with this interview with Liz Muller, the woman in charge of the sneaky “Inspired by” project, and who says there are plans for more to come, while they test out what direction they want to go in with this big redesign.

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