This is the oldest Starbucks partner card I’ve ever seen. It belongs to a friend of mine who was a partner in the 1994 to 1995 era, hired by the University Village Starbucks. She hasn’t been a partner for many years, but was recently cleaning out some old boxes and she stumbled upon these old cards. I find it curious that in that era, the cards had an expiration date on them, and they were apparently re-issued to partners periodically.
I have a long and detailed blog post about the University Village Starbucks (store #302 – The second ever store), and I still highly recommend it:
By the way, it might not be obvious but my friend Cherilyn’s partner number was six digits. I just thought it was interesting to see a vintage partner card, and thought you might like seeing it too.
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This is an open thread and feel free to talk about anything Starbucks-related in the comments. One of the funny things about this blog is that I get random emails through the “contact me” form, and also direct messages through twitter, and people just sort of pass on to me what they’ve heard is coming to Starbucks. Of course, this doesn’t mean that they’ve gotten it right, or know what they’re talking about. I enjoy getting those kinds of emails. I assume that some of what I hear is early information about what might be coming soon. About another one-third of the emails I get really should be routed to Customer Service. I am sorry but if you’ve picked up a dry pastry at an airport Starbucks, there is nothing I can do about it. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I am not customer service. In the side column of this blog, near the bottom, I’ve added a link to customer service too. And with the delayed launch of Casi Cielo, I’ve had at least three separate e-mails inquiring when Casi Cielo will be back in the stores. It is coming soon! It will be back next month.
Over the years, there have been tons of these emails. (Keep them coming!). Some of them are quite entertaining. Two years ago, a partner wrote me insisting that his store was testing face recognition technology at his Starbucks store. I was left scratching my head, and I really was never sure if it was a serious email or if someone was pulling my leg. From that email, I had the idea to write this April Fool’s Day blog entry. That April Fool’s Day joke blog post was set in Pennsylvania because the partner who wrote me indicated that the testing was in that state somewhere.
More recently, I have received an email stating that orange syrup is coming back to Starbucks as a promo syrup this upcoming summer. I really don’t know if that is true, but at least it makes some sense. It’s been a long while since Starbucks offered orange syrup, and I think it was recently an international offering in Indonesia. Once in a while, the syrup promotions seem to rotate from one country to another! And then very recently, I heard that Starbucks was planning on changing their logo yet again. I am disbelief at that one too, but maybe there is an April Fool’s Day joke in the making with the idea of a new logo: Starbucks to re-design her signature siren logo: Michelle Gass and Annie Young Scrivner vie for the opportunity to model for new Siren. Oh god, I think Starbucks would hate me for that one. In any case, I think that many of the ‘tips’ I get turn out to be incorrect, so I would not hold my breath that the logo is changing again.
Anyway, I have rambled enough. It’s your turn now…
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Very cool! I am a partner…and my first start date was in 1993 and I received one of those paper cards. Every quarter (I think) we would receive a different colour sticker for the back to keep it current. I think I still have mine…should check my Sbux box. My partner number is 203xxx….love your site SbuxMel!
@Tyra – That’s very cool – I had wondered why there were several stickers on the back of the one that had the pink sticker. Thank you for sharing that. Hope to see you poking around here a little more. Welcome!
@pdxcoffeemaster – I know! It pains me to listen to partners boast that the blonde roast has a lot more caffeine than the others. I know one SSC partner who insists that if a customer notices a difference, it is just a placebo effect, because she says that the difference is really negligible. I hear partners all the time telling customers that blonde has more caffeine – Just this past week I listened to a Key Tower (Seattle Municipal Tower now) say that, and I’ve heard it at Pacific Place Starbucks too. And it is at least a technically right statement.
I wouldn’t call a beer and wine Starbucks a “beerbucks” 😉 The closest one to me is Olive Way, and my experiences at that store have been very good. Haven’t noticed people getting visibly intoxicated. And I love the option of the elevated food offerings. The brown butter apple tart is so delicious. I’m going to a media/pr event again there this Monday, and will be writing more about Casi Cielo, and the elevated food options soon.
Our mark out sheets list some crazy food items we have never heard of, but I guess that would be the elevated food options. It lists a brown sugar tart, apple tart, etc. All sound delightful! I think we are long overdue for some new food additions(perhaps something raspberry – I really miss the raspberry scone!).
Diele are those new food items just for your region? They sound very interesting if they are good for sure. Would love to see some new choices.
Carl your recent comments about the Jan tumbler make me think I might want to send an email to SB about it (even though I know nothing will come of it) because our tumbler is also going to bite the dust and it still is so hard for me to believe that SB would approve a design without testing it out and then use it for a promotion. Sure, we got our money’s worth from it but what poor decision making on their part.
Purple1, no they are on the list but we don’t have them. It must be the elevated food Melody was mentioning. It happens quite a bit that some random thing ends up on the sheet but is another region. Gets my hopes up. 🙁
@Diele and Purple1 – Yep those are the additional “elevated food offerings” for the beer and wine Starbucks locations. I recognize some of those names of foods. Btw, I’ve heard it said that the beer and wine Starbucks are internally called the “Tramonto” stores. That’s the Italian word for “Sunset.”
I will have to investigate the portal. I love reading up on test items and new happenings while waiting to clock on or pass the time while eating on a break. Call me crazy, but I spend quite a bit of free time keeping up with Starbucks.
Honestly the only problem I had with the free coffee tumbler was the first day I used it, January 3. The rest of the month I have had no problems. If you hand wash the tumbler it works fine – not one of the best ones but not that big of a problem. There are many days I go in without buying anything, but I buy something much more than I thought I would, and earned 15 stars over the month that I probably would not have earned otherwise. After the month is over I’ll probably stop walking over there during morning break, but I have been exposed more to the pastries and the other offerings there.
I must say I was pleasantly shocked today to discover that, for the very last day of the 31 Days tumbler promo, my SBUX (#8206) was brewing Komodo Dragon! What a refreshing departure! After weeks of ITA (and thankfully a few days recently, VER), they’re finally bringing back a great old fave. I may even go do the $2 breakfast sandwich promo there tomorrow as a result.
I thought I would stick this really UNhappy comment in an “open thread”. My regular local (altho there are many with a very few miles) store has been getting its remodel. We were all so excited. well, it’s nearly done and I could cry. I have seen several re-models in the past few yrs and NEVER been disappointed. This just makes me want to cry.
They had a ton of space to work with (as well you know Melody!) and it is just a big COLD fail. I should assume, being Sbux, they also had a ton of $$$…..apparently they’ve put that toward rolling out “blonde roast” coffee etc because this is really really sad. I can’t even write about it in detail, I am in such disbelief. (yes, I did email several people…dm, rdm etc. just to speak my heartache.) I am not alone in my sentiments about this; literally everyone I talked with in the store felt the same stunned way I do.
Denise –
That breaks my heart! What did they do to your store? It is a large space – I would say you had like 1600+ square feet to work with. What did it end up looking like.
You have seen SOOO many stores because of this blog. I notice that there are a couple of trends in store design, and one look is to have the “live edge” to the wood on the bar, and woodworking through out the store. You see that especially in the University Village Starbucks, Madison Park, and Olive Way. Another looki is much flatter, like this store here:
http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2011/08/29/featured-clover-starbucks-fountain-valley-california/
What look did your store get Denise. I am so sorry that’s it’s not beautiful! 🙁
@Melody: I can’t even begin to describe what a bad bad job it is. I’ve seen about 5 remodels right around here….at least…..in the last 6mnths and NOTHING compares to how badly they did this store. They painted, put up a couple new (nice) coffee pics, postedone whole wall with that coffee mural, added a wall-long bench there (with outlets) and a table that seats two all along that. (school-house type wooden chairs thru-out) Long computer table in the middle, waiting for the electric..apparently they didn’t get all their village permits in order (AMAZING)….then, taking up the most space..just sets of square wooden tables of two, pushed together with same chairs…all lined up throughout that largest space area. 3 of the” wooden” chairs were pulled by sm and me yesterday for being split, clear thru, the seat of the chair… could see the floor! (right in the middle of the chair seat)…..great quality. Then, there used to be 4 “comfy” leather type chairs…. they took those and put in 2 (only 2) little fabric-tweed like with metal framing, no arms, chairs, fairly small and a little (also metal framed) table between them, low to the ground about 1′ square. I am only 5’4″ and I had to kind of reach down to set my coffee on this thing. They did lower the bar area, added some new wood…….. (did not change the floor..badly needed). EVERY remodel..even not recently remodeled Sbux I’ve been in, including ones prob about a quater the sz of this one? has those decent chairs. The smallest Sbux I go to (small) has 6!!! Most have at least 4. Another med sz store I go to about every ~10days? has prob. 8 of those….looks like a living rm! beautiful.
I’m so so embarassed I don’t even want to send you pics.
Mainly, besides the lack of decent seating and obviously some poor quality material, it just looks like there was NO design…someone said let’s do A B and C and then they just thru it all in there. There are plenty of very nice Sbux right around me, you’ve seen some.
Really, I know it’s just a frking store but I could almost cry if I wasn’t so mad. It looks inexcusable. I’ll e you.
(and, every person I have talked to there has expressed the SAME thoughts and amazement, everyone)
Denise I totally understand your frustration, etc. with the resdesign of the store. I have found some of the redesigns around here to be quite lacking in style and some have even made it more uncomfortable to sit and be with friends. It really is such a shame.
@purple: thanx for your undrstanding;(
denise r — I understand your pain.
Starbucks does not seem to realize that to many of us regular customers and dedicated Partners that Starbucks really is their third-place, a part of you, a home away from home.
If Starbucks was really looking at the metrics that should be available through peoples’ Starbucks Card Accounts, they would know who the true core customers were for a particular store. They would invite suggestions from this core.
Instead, they send in, at best, an inexperienced “designer” that has no feel for a particular store. My regular Starbucks is getting a remodel this year, unless it is delayed again. The juvenile looking designer and DM come in and start trying to figure how the “new things” will fit. I hope I am not hearing correctly, but if I am I do not know if I or the core regulars can adjust.
Dad Cooks your comment hit home on so many levels. Today, I was scrolling the SB website and saw that I had 75 stars in January and was thinking wow and then thought SB surely does not appreciate my business. No card re the 29 dash or any other acknowledgement for the type of customer I am. Also, I have said before I really believe the local SB store we frequent should conduct focus groups with the regulars to get a sense from them what works and what doesn’t work. Re the design of stores already said and agree with you and Denise so much that often SB just does not see the customer in the design. Great comments and thanks Denise and Dad Cooks.
I did meet with our dm this morning…who does seem to agree and understand what I SEE in this. She has never seen such ridiculous little cheap-looking 2 chairs and tiny table…also that the a few of the “wooden” chairs were already splitting right thru the middle of the seat….all the way across and all the way thru. She said she is definitely following up on this but that ultimately it comes from Seattle.
WE pay for this. WE pay for Sbux….. I am really really thinking of all the $$$ I may save.
I love the partners at this store etc…. we had that “3rd” place-feel but not anymore. Before this “re-model”, I would say it was one of the emptiest largest space…it’s ~1600 sq ft. I can’t STAY there and be comfortable. There is nothing comfortable about it. Later today I stopped in one of the SMALLEST stores (in Arlinton Hts). It is prob. the smallest I’ve seen, and is 100X warmer and more attractive that what Sbux just did to “our” place.
I am just appalled.
The support from you guys means really alot to me. Thank you….and also for putting up with all this:(
@Denise – I know the one photo that you sent me of your store’s major remodel looked like a disappointment. I know from what I saw, I am heartbroken and feeling let down at 2470’s remodel. The chairs that you sent me a photo of – I don’t recall ever seeing them here in a Seattle store. I just wrote a blog post on a new Starbucks at 8th and Virginia, and I think it’s only a little smaller than your store, but such a big difference. Would you send me some more photos of your store?
In the end it is always the partners that make the store. One of my all-time fave Starbucks has no comfy seating at all, and looks so atrocious. Very neglected. Yet it is a Clover store, and a historic store in the sense that it was the first Starbucks that Howard opened up. But it looks tired and overdue for a remodel. But great people through and through.
That’s no excuse though for store design to do anything shoddy in your store. No excuse. It IS what you have been paying for by being a loyal customer for years!!! What did the SM say? I know I should know his name. Maybe I could write a blog post on your store?