Starting today, Friday, February 16, the Starbucks store experience will become even more accessible and inclusive for partners (employees), customers and communities.The company announced that moving forward, all new and renovated stores in the U.S. will begin to incorporate Starbucks new Inclusive Spaces Framework. The new design framework defines how Starbucks will help expand independence, choice and ease for all people across physical and digital spaces.
Here’s what this means for customers:
- An Updated Café Experience Is Coming: Moving forward, all new and renovated Starbucks stores in the U.S. will leverage the Inclusive Spaces Framework – a set of accessibility guidelines developed in partnership with Starbucks partners (employees), customers and accessibility experts – to better accommodate the various needs of the communities we serve. To further accessibility across the retail industry, the Starbucks framework will also be open sourced and further developed to help expand accessibility across the retail industry.
- Unique New Store Features: Some of the physical and digital features that Starbucks will begin to incorporate include:
- Customer order status boards with visual updates when their order is ready
- Optimized acoustics and lighting to reduce unwanted background noise and reverberation; minimize glare, shadows and backlighting that help enable better communication
- Updated point-of-sale system, offering images of menu items to support language diversity and providing visual order confirmation to help ensure order accuracy.
- Accessible entrances, including power-operated doors with a longer vertical push button and generous clearances for entryways
- Continuous, unobstructed pedestrian paths, including open sightlines and barrier free pathways through the store
- Counters are lower with overhangs to accommodate wheelchair access and support better communication when picking up food and beverages
- First Location Featuring Framework: Starbucks new store at Union Market, located in Washington, D.C., opens today (February 16) and is the first location built using the new framework. Learn more about the partners at the store and take a virtual tour of the new cafe here.
