It's 9:52 a.m. Do you know where your iced coffee is? If you live in New York, it's likely somewhere behind a hundred other Starbucks orders, all of which are making you incrementally later for work.
Not anymore. Today, Starbucks launched a pilot version of its new "express" model, which they're calling an "'espresso shot' of a store experience." And, New Yorkers who work downtown, rejoice: They chose Wall Street as their testing zone.
Here's how it works: Lower Manhattan caffeine fiends (read: everyone) should reroute to 14 Wall Street, where you will enter a 538-square-foot and absurdly-spiffy rendition of a normal Starbucks. Once you're inside, an employee with a tablet will approach to get your order off and running. If you don't have a go-to, you can browse a mounted digital menu "tailored for New York customers." By the time you step up to pay, the plan is that your drink will be ready and waiting.
Fast, good coffee is all very exciting, but beware of marketing ploys. As Jason Goldberg, vice president of commerce at Razorfish told Wired, “[Starbucks express] plays on smart psychology of queuing, because customers feel like their order is being made while they’re waiting, rather than wasting time while people decide what they want." As Goldberg explains, even if your wait time is much the same as before, the new model makes it feel shorter.
Brainwashing aside, we're very excited about anything that could potentially make our morning commute a little easier. Frazzled baristas and long queues first thing in the a.m. can be a drag, as can the average Starbucks store. Frankly, we'd like them all to look more like this. We can dream, especially before we've had our coffee.
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