Thaindian News

Imagine good ol’ Central Perk with their signature regulars in ‘Friends’ seen with their all too familiar gigantic coffee cups, replaced with something a little more intensely cheerful: wine glasses and beer mugs! Well not too much of a stretch in imagination anymore, if the coffee-mogul Starbucks Corp(SBUX) manages to hit it off with it’s newest brainchild.

In it’s latest attempts to counter an increasing dip in sales and accusations of being “out of touch” with a down-on-its-luck economy thanks to it’s $4 cups of coffee, the powerhouse coffee house chain has decided to give the whole coffee-shop experience a face lift by introducing the most obvious perk-up: alcohol. As reported by CBS news correspondent Bianca Solorzano on ‘The Early Show’ yesterday, the strategy for the new Starbucks ventures would involve (for starters) three new-look coffee shops, re-modeled and renamed, scrubbed clear of the Starbucks signature logo and name, offering alcohol options of beer and wine.

The famous Starbucks logo is being replaced by a name reflective of the location or neighborhood of the shop, hoping to create an ambiance of a cozy community meeting place with a name that says ‘neighborhood-coffee shop-around-the-corner’ rather than ‘faceless, impersonal corporate chain’.
The atmosphere is supposed to be more on the artsy side, with poetry readings and music being a part of the package. The latest effort comes at a time when continual pressure from an ever increasing string of rival corporations (most recently McCafe launched by the McDonald’s Corp) and acknowledgment of an obviously unfavorable economy have prompted the abandoning of the existing status quo. Evidently the coffee kings have realized, that trading in ‘Star’ for ‘Bar’ is the surest way to bring in the ‘bucks’. Cheers to that!