Starbucks is ramping up the global expansion of its “community” store concept as part of a new commitment to make its stores more inclusive — and accessible.
Ahead of its annual shareholder meeting, the coffee giant announced plans to expand its community store footprint to 1,000 locations globally by 2030, both by opening new stores and rebranding existing ones. It currently has 150 community stores.
The concept provides dedicated programming and experiences that support economic opportunity in the local community and create “pathways to opportunity” for employees. Since it was first launched back in 2015, the community concept has grown around the world to include several store models. The US locations focus on helping provide economic opportunity in rural and urban communities through local hiring, creating dedicated space for communities to come together for events, partnering with local artists and working with diverse contractors and sub-contractors or focus on supporting service members, veterans and military families.
Starbucks will use the American Human Development Index (HDI), developed and calculated by Measure of America (MoA), an initiative of the Social Science Research Council, to identify where its US community stores could provide the most value and better serve vulnerable communities. The retailer said it will use the information to provide insight on where and how it expands its US community store portfolio.
