Coffee City
Melissa Allison follows the world's biggest coffee-shop chain and other Seattle caffeine purveyors.
Comments (0)
E-mail article
Print
Share
Starbucks unveils new store design at University Village
Posted by Melissa Allison
GREG GILBERT/THE SEATTLE TIMES
The University Village Starbucks opened this morning with a new interior after undergoing a remodeling project. See full photo gallery.
Here are some great pictures that photographer Greg Gilbert took yesterday afternoon at the newly remodeled Starbucks store in University Village.
It's hard to describe the new look, which is rustic in a way -- like Starbucks' newly designed store across from Pike Place Market -- but also modern.
At a shindig there last night, president of global development Arthur Rubinfeld -- who is credited with Starbucks' look from the early 1990s and wrote the book Built for Growth -- called it "a combination of organic, environmental materials and modern design."
The store is easier to navigate than it used to be and includes interesting materials like menu boards made of chalkboards from Garfield High School, shelving that used to be part of students' lockers there, and a bulletin board that's made from the metal sides of retired espresso makers.
The central pieces are three long community tables made from a fallen ash tree in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood.
Starbucks' move toward recycled and reused materials could mean the stores need fewer remodeling overhauls.
"The design we are doing now is more timeless, and I think they will last longer,"said Liz Muller, director of global concept design who has an artistic flare that shows up in her clothing and her office at Starbucks, where the skeletons of a couple of lighting fixtures from the old University Village floor hang with bare lightbulbs in them. The other fixtures are in Lake Washington rusting to get a new look for a future store remodel.
Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company
Dec 10, 10 - 5:05 PM
Last blog post from Coffee City: Author of coffee history book to read at Starbucks Olive Way
Dec 9, 10 - 5:37 PM
Carly Simon case against Starbucks dismissed, again
Dec 8, 10 - 4:53 PM
Howard Schultz's end-of-year letter to employees: Dec. 2 saw record whole-bean sales in Starbucks stores
Dec 7, 10 - 2:56 PM
Lynnwood cafe bought, renamed; dozens more coffee shops still for sale
Dec 6, 10 - 1:04 PM
Kraft seeks preliminary injunction against Starbucks


- No question: Russell Wilson's in charge now
- McNerney: Boeing will squeeze suppliers and cut jobs
- Percy Harvin already impressing Seahawks teammates, coaches
- Amazon’s plan for giant spheres gets mixed reaction
- Sinking Mariners lose sixth straight game; changes ahead?
- Man shot by FBI had ties to Boston bombing suspect
- Is Catholic Church taking over health care in Washington? | Danny Westneat
- Ex-Great Wolf Lodge lifeguard charged with rape of guest, 14
- Turmoil surrounds program to help prostitutes
- High-level Starbucks exec heads to Kohl’s
- Is Catholic Church taking over health care in Washington?
356 - Official: Treasury played no role in IRS targeting
297 - Game thread: Mariners try to end trip with a win
218 - Businesses refuse service to gays
156 - Mariners head home facing key decisions as losing streak hits six
128 - McNerney: Boeing will squeeze suppliers and cut jobs
110 - View from Sacramento: David Stern deserves statue, thanks
94 - Mariners veterans call team meeting after getting routed again
87 - Vote on gay Scouts comes at emotional moment
81 - Mariners routed by Angels again, 7-1
76
- Is Catholic Church taking over health care in Washington? | Danny Westneat
- McNerney: Boeing will squeeze suppliers and cut jobs
- Amazon’s plan for giant spheres gets mixed reaction
- Catholic schools update to compete with charter schools
- Careers carved at wood-tech center
- Doctors save Ohio boy by ‘printing’ an airway tube | Close-up
- Food-video site launched by Bellevue consumer-research firm
- UW Medicine, Catholic health system to have ‘strategic affiliation’
- China’s wealthy paying cash for Eastside luxury homes
- Council panel OKs zoning for big pot-growing operations





