Starbucks is on a mission to win back the coffeehouse feeling — and a renovated location on North Cicero Avenue in Chicago is showing the rest of the chain what that looks like. From the outside, the café looks like any other suburban coffee stop. But step inside, and something feels genuinely different.
The softer and more varied seating, warmer colors and lighting, and an area with couches set up for lounging made the store feel more like a neighborhood café, albeit one owned by a multi-billion dollar brand. Gone are the hard industrial chairs and cold gray walls. In their place: warm wood tones, golden-brown curtains framing the windows, and power outlets scattered throughout the room — not just along the walls.
Previously, consumers felt unwelcome and wouldn't spend much time in the café, which discouraged groups from meeting there. Store manager Veronica Mercado says the on-premise atmosphere has been completely transformed. "Those little details made it feel more cozy and more Starbucks," she said. The renovation took just four days, but the impact has been dramatic — the proportion of customers choosing to stay and sit has doubled since the remodel.
This Chicago location is just an early example of a much larger renovation rollout planned for thousands of U.S. Starbucks cafés. The brand is clearly betting that investing in ambiance and comfort will bring customers back through the door — and more importantly, keep them there.
