Starbucks to stop selling alcohol at more than 400 U.S. stores

epic failure … Starbucks to stop selling alcohol at more than 400 U.S. stores

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I really thought that this would fail… I can see this store specific, not what they were trying to accomplish … the wine business is not an easy one to survive, both big and little fish find troubled waters… glad they tried, glad they failed…I saw this as a mismatched venture …

Shalom !!!

Salute !!!

This would have been wildly successful if they had sold “coffee with a shot of XXX” instead of beer and wine. Who the hell goes to Starbucks to drink beer and wine? Apparently nobody.

It’s interesting that in many other countries it’s relatively normal to get some hooch at the same place you get your cup of joe. Serious question, why have we resisted this model?

Because we’re Americans damnit! We only selectively steal things from other cultures.

Restrictive liquor laws? Most places that are coffee focused are probably too low margin to afford a liquor license . . .

That said, there’s a synergy there - coffee in the morning, beer/wine in afternoon.

Here in Dallas a place just starting to expand out is doing coffee and wine quite successfully, Ascension. Wildly complex coffees with great baristas and a (for a wine nut) main stream, but qualitatively top notch, albeit value driven, wine program.

Dang, I never knew they started.

Evening Bailey’s coffee or Irish Coffee would have been neat, especially at drive through!

I’m pretty sure they also stopped selling real coffee some time ago.

I have never had it. My wife gets some sort of blended icee style coffee when we drive on trips.

I was intrigued by the idea of a decaf Baileys and coffee, however!

Hardly. It just sounds like a product introduction that wasn’t successful. You can’t succeed without experimenting.

The all day cafe is quite a common model here in Australia, but Starbucks had enough trouble selling coffee here so wine was never on the table. I think that the remaining stores are just there for the tourists.
I can think of a few wine bars that open in the morning to do coffee. The coffee places that do wine generally aren’t doing anything fancy apart from a few exceptions.

This was one of the stupidest ideas EVER.

Why so? You already have a customer base who has no problem spending $4-$5 on a cup of freaking coffee. Why not try to leverage the laziness of the American consumer?

Don’t forget the to go tall, grande or venti cup. Starbucks is a pit stop primarily for people on the move.

It would appear that Starbucks relied on focus groups instead of paying a professional for a feasibility study. Maybe something like this could work in very select places like the French quarter but come on.

Big +1. They obviously should have gone to you for their marketing consulting needs. “coffee with a shot of XXX” is genius.

but perhaps they needed a different license in some states for hard liquor than for beer/wine?

I’m sure they had to limit the ability to remove alcoholic beverages from the premises. Allowing customers to add alcohol to their coffee and then having them taking it on the road was probably too big a problem to solve.

Good point.

When my daughter first went to Europe, she asked why the cars did no have cup holders. She got this incredulous look and was told people stop and have a coffee(espresso)!
My wife does like their iced tea. The only time I stop is in an airport or when traveling and need a rest stop.

Just don’t see how the two work together. I love coffee and I love wine. One I drink in the morning and early afternoon and one I drink after work into the evening. Just can’t imagine many paying $10 a glass for an $8 bottle of wine at Starbucks.

Never made it to Colorado, but my sister in San Diego said they sold wine there, Apothic Red was a choice. Non starter.