Coffee lovers, drop everything. A 20,000-square-foot Starbucks mega store is opening in New York City, and this is not a drill — I repeat this is not a drill. Of course, when news of this nature breaks, my over-caffeinated brain immediately floods with approximately eight million questions, but one stands out above the rest right now: when does the Starbucks Roastery open in NYC? Because not to be overdramatic or anything, but this is kind of my ultimate dream come true, and honestly I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight out of giddy excitement knowing that, somewhere out there in this blessed universe, the coffee gods have heard my prayers, and chose to deliver.
Earlier this year, you may have caught wind of a lovely little rumor that a Starbucks superstore inspired by the famed Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle was making its way to the Big Apple to warm the hearts of millions of coffee-fueled New Yorkers. Those rumors, it turns out, were true: Starbucks announced in a press release that the NYC Starbucks Roastery will open in Manhattan's Meatpacking district in 2018. Although the company has yet to get more specific than that — are we talking spring 2018? Summer 2018? Answers people! I need answers! — Starbucks did say construction of the sprawling building will be completed by the end of 2017. So, pending any major disaster, I think it's safe to hope that the Roastery will open shortly thereafter, fingers crossed. Are you excited? I'm excited.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, though, there are a few obvious followup questions you're probably wondering as well — like for instance, what the heck is a Starbucks Roastery, even? The finished building, which is expected to go up at 61 Ninth Avenue (a block south from Chelsea Market), is "like coffee theater, where the small-batch roasting process takes center stage," according to a Starbucks press release.
It sounds vague, I know, but we can pull some clues of what the Roastery might include by looking to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle for answers. There, customers can experience the craft of coffee as they get to see how rare coffees are roasted and consumed. Think of it as a little bit of a peek behind-the-scenes.
"Our Seattle Roastery experience created something that had never been done before, transforming a retail environment into something far beyond just a coffee shop and into the single-best retail experience of any kind,” Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said in a press release. “In New York, we want to take elements from what we originally created and build something even bigger and bolder, celebrating coffee and craft in a completely unique and differentiated way."
Alright, alright — I'm sold. But, I still have one lingering question: how the heck am I going to wait until 2018?
Images: Courtesy of Starbucks; Giphy
