Memorable moments in Starbucks merchandise history continued: A loyal reader of this site sent me an email of a Valentine’s Day box sold at Starbucks not too long ago. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to dive one more time into the era of Starbucks merchandise long gone by. This little pink box, complete with cards, envelopes, and some stickers, was too adorable not to mention here. The email to me was inspired by yesterday’s blog post about the Starbucks paperclips.
Previous StarbucksMelody.com blog post on Starbucks paperclips
Valentine’s Day is just about one month from now, so this also seems like a good time of year to chat about Valentine’s merchandise. I hope Starbucks gets brave and experiments with a wider variety of merchandise soon. I am quite ready to move away from the merchandise trend of ‘yet another Via Ready Brew contraption’.
The reader who emailed these photos to me thinks this box dates to about the early 2000s era of Starbucks. Enjoy this Valentine box!
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How adorable! I remember in 2007 there was a card that said I love you venti. I miss the cutesy Starbucks mugs and merch. I have a pair of Valentine’s Day mugs that say I love you from a few years ago.
I’m really torn on some of this stuff. On one hand, it seems like Starbucks is getting too far away from their coffee/tea roots. On the other hand, some of this stuff is super cute! I generally avoid Valentine’s Day, but the V-day bears at Starbucks are so cute. I’m considering getting one… or getting hubby to get me one. 🙂
Melody ~ I love the walk down @starbucks merchandise past. This is really cute! Like so many of this community, I’d like to see more in the stores.
It’s easy for me to tie stationary, cards & related items to coffee & tea… When I sit down to write I have a cup of one or the other.
Thanks for sharing the awesome finds, Melody!!
Melody another great post! I also like your pic of your new Adler mug. I too as others have mixed feelings about what merchandise SB should sell in their stores, but some of the items in the partner store are so neat. The via displays in my local store are really getting boring!
I love you trenta!
So… You are not going to believe this, but I just found the exact same set in my filing cabinet. I thought that it was leftover by someone else, so I put it in our mailroom for grabs. Your post just came through my RSS feed, and lo and behold… there’s the exact same set! I found the cards and stickers still in the mailroom. I had to compare. How ironic!
Were they not made by Starbucks? There are no visible trademarks or copyrights.
OMG, Melody! I have this exact same Valentine’s Day box. I’ve actually used most of the little notes, envelopes, stickers, etc. that came with it. I’m curious now…I’ll need to go find it and see what the year is on it! How fun! I also remember getting a few cards like the “I love you Venti.” I wish SBUX would bring these cute items back. What a blast from the past!
You can see on it: designed by Amercian Greetings exclusively for Starbucks, but no date.
I love this stuff and there’s almost NONE of it now. just VIA, and VIA.
Hi R1! I’ve heard news from several people that the Trenta is coming. I plan to write about it soon. I don’t even like that the Adler mug is grande and wish it were tall I can see the tenta maybe for iced tea on a hot summer day.
Melody,
I echo what your thoughts on Starbucks branching out and not just trying to keep selling Via stuff. If people aren’t buying it by now, they’re not going to.
Great post for the coffee addict in me 🙂
@Diele @DeniseR and @Csuds
@Diele – I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I think there is even room for Starbucks to produce cards for special occasions with one stick of Via in them. Some of the paper items are a better fit in Starbucks than the CDs at the registers – So many people do write out a card over coffee. I love the idea of “I love you Venti”. In my twitter feed, one person suggested to me that for a brand new relationship it would just say, “I love you Tall.” 😉
@Denise – I wonder if the really great partnerships with other companies are gone. American Greetings doesn’t want to produce this stuff anymore? Who knows. I _especially_ think this Valentine’s Day box is adorable. I would guess it dates to about 2003 or 2004.
@CSuds – Welcome to the blog!! Hope you poke around a bit and come back and join in here again. How did you find me? If you haven’t seen it, there is a Starbucks mug contest going on now… Send in an image of your favorite mug but PLEASE follow all the instructions in the blog post:
http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2011/01/01/30-easy-5-gift-cards-contest-my-favorite-starbucks-mug-is/
I am loving the merchandise posts. It’s a large part of the customer experience I think. I wish I could find my mugs from 2006…
@Melody, Trenta is going to launch nationally? Will it be just for iced coffee and tea like during the test or will there be a hot Trenta also?
Nathan, I definitely wasnt clear in my lost post. My bad. As far as I know, Trenta is in parts of FL, much of Georgia, parts of Arizona, and is expanding to Texas, and rumor of Northern Calif, and Boston. No Trenta anywhere in Seattle. Over President’s Day weekend, I’ll be traveling to a city with a Trenta and will write a review then.
I agree with Purple1 I see tons of VIA around AZ and I’m not really a super fan of it.
I would LOVE to see the Christian Adler ceramic mug come back here. Sadly, I never got to get one before they sold out 🙁
Also, some more Casi Cielo would be great paired with a yummy brownie! I haven’t seen any brownies since the peppermint brownies.
Cute! It does make sense to have stationery in a coffee shop – I usually have coffee on hand when I’m writing.
Now if they would only offer postal service! 😉
I had no idea starbucks sold stationary and office goods! I have a weakness for cute stationary and would love it if Starbucks sold stuff like this again occasionally 😀
I’m trying to remember what those iconic trailer/campers are called??? (should’ve googled that before I wrote this) but, I’m remembering a time..maybe 2000, or even before, in the first store I used to “hang out in” here, and they had little replicas of these campers and also postcards with pics of them……. it was a summer thing. But I remember clearly looking at them with a friend (who had moved to AZ and taken up ‘camping’ with a camper) and she was telling me some of the history of these. BUT, re: SBUX, they actualy had little versons of these to buy….. just one more thing they had. took it all for granted back then, something never, ever to do.
I really like the Compendium books (live-inspired.com) books that Starbucks sells (5, 1, 2, etc.) and the little lunch box cards that they used to sell. I wish they would do more with Compendium and that’s a Seattle company and seems to be a good corporate match.
ok..those little ‘camper’ replicas and cards were “airstream”….a world all unto itself for those who favor that camper, I am told.
But, the amazing thing is that one summer Sbux actually had a whole shelf on this…..as just a general part of summer, etc. I do think (obviously) the theme was ‘travel’…and there was alot of info about various places.
and, as I’ve said before, those days seem long gone.
That is honestly just way too cute! 😀
I think I remember seeing these in a few Starbucks near me! I should have bought some. They were really cute. Now whenever I go in, the only things for sale are mugs, tumblers, and VIA. I miss the little things. I’m a textbook impulse buyer, so they made a lot of money off of me when they carried things like this!
Been busy at work. Sorry I never got my favorite mug pic to you. Do you have any idea how i could get a 2011 planner? do these sticker campaigns not come here? never see any of this stuff in myneck of the woods. would love to buy one.
Hi Tim! Sorry you didn’t get in your favorite mug. Maybe next time. I hope you enjoyed looking over the 40 mugs – The stories that people had to tell about their mugs were fabulous. That won’t be the last time I do something like that. The planners are part of the international markets only – Indonesia, Phillippines, a few other places.
Sorry for typos and rushed – Sorry I’m having a busy morning at work! Hey Tim, please be sure to “like” my blog’s facebook page. Thank you!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/StarbucksMelody/180068562003180