Starbucks Reinvents Itself, in Amsterdam

Belinda Lanks reports on the innovations and design philosophy to be featured when the new store officially opens on Thursday.

"Located in the former vault of a historic bank on Rembrandtplein, the new shop will be a showcase for sustainable interior design and slow coffee brewing, with small-batch reserve coffees and Europe's first-ever Clover, a high-end machine that brews one cup at a time," writes Lanks.

Lanks seems to be most struck, however, by the radical aesthetic of the shop, which incorporates recycled and local materials into the work of 35 artists and craftsmen. Although it's hard to imagine Starbucks being able replicate this design process in renovating its more than 19,000 worldwide stores, "the concepts that go over well in Amsterdam will find their way to other stores across Europe. They may even filter into the highly individualized local concept stores that Starbucks has been stealthily opening in the United States, including one made from shipping containers outside of Seattle."