Starbucks to Expand Its Evenings Concept

SEATTLE — Starbucks Corp. wants to not only sell consumers their favorite cup of coffee in the morning. Beginning Wednesday, the Seattle-based retailer will ramp up efforts to sell customers their favorite wine and craft beer in the evening hours.

According to USA Today, Starbucks will begin selling wine and beer, along with small plates of food, such as bacon-wrapped dates and truffle macaroni and cheese, at two dozen new locations in the United States on Wednesday, as part of the company’s “Evenings” program. Many of these stores are located in the Denver, Miami, Orlando and Northern California markets, as well as one in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Once these locations officially debut these offerings, Starbucks will have more than 70 locations selling wine and beer. The large retailer also submitted liquor licenses for several hundred more locations throughout the country.

“We learned resoundingly that our customers want to come to Starbucks and have a glass of wine or a craft beer,” Rachel Antalek, vice president of concept innovations, told the news outlet. “There aren’t that many places to go in the evening where you can go very relaxed, very casual. It’s not loud. You can actually have a small group and hear yourself talk.”

The Evenings program has been in the testing phase for five years as a possible way to counteract declining sales after 4 p.m. at Starbucks locations. Starbucks believes Evenings is the answer, and expects to have the program in more than 2,000 of its 12,000 U.S. stores in the coming months, reported the news source.