I dropped by the Starbucks at 1912 Pike Place on my way to work earlier this week. It’s always fun to visit that store. As anyone who has read Pour Your Heart Into It knows, it’s the place where the Starbucks magic began. If you want to read about the store manager of 1912 Pike Place (and his Starbucks career journey), be sure to read this article: Chad Moore – Profile of the store manager of 1912 Pike Place.
By the way, this store is busy at all hours, seven days a week. The best time to visit is early morning.
I walked in and was greeted by Meridith, who mentioned that she had just made a French press of Veranda Blend to work on her coffee passport. For those who don’t know, a coffee passport is a small booklet that Starbucks provides to all their partners for them to write coffee tasting notes, and keep track of the coffees they’ve tasted:
Meridith greeted me by name, remembering me from my last visit … and it had been too long!
The merchandise at this store is unique to this store only. I noticed that there is both a made in the USA mug and a made in the USA 16-ounce tumbler available right now:
The heavy made in the USA mugs came from the same Ohio factory which produced the Indivisible mugs for Starbucks in 2012. The store is so small that it seems like there are always boxes of merchandise (or other product) stacked anywhere and everywhere.
One important thing to point out is that 1912 Pike Place Starbucks has a special whole bean coffee blend available only at this store (although First and Pike, at the entrance of the Market, has been known to sell it too.) The special coffee is called “Pike Place Special Reserve” and it’s absolutely worth trying if you get a chance. It’s a pretty dark roast Latin American blend. It should not be confused with Pike Place Roast, which is an “everyday brew” available in Starbucks stores everywhere. Actually, as I think about it, I think it would be fun if the Olive Way Starbucks would do a tasting with this special coffee some time. The Pike Place Special Reserve comes in special brown wrapping, and inside that you’ll find a small Flavorlock bag of coffee:
So I bought a beverage, took a few pictures in the store, and then headed to work. If you’ve never been to this store, it’s a unique experience. All of the espresso shots are manually pulled on a La Marzocco espresso machine. And the best part is that the crew of store partners here are incredibly friendly. Hope you enjoy the rest of the photos!
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Wow, the store looks amazing! I’ll definitely have to pay Pike Place a visit the next time I travel to the area.
Melody nice pics of the store especially the first one. You know you reminded me as to whether any of the partners around here still do the coffee passports. I never hear any of them talking about it.
I’ve wondered what the inside of that store looks like. Love the flooring and country store look to it. I think they should get an artistic person to work on the chalk art though. It would just make the merchandise that much more inviting. Doubt that it needs any help selling though so maybe it doesn’t matter. Still great to see inside the store and I hope to visit it someday.
Love this store every time I see it. Happy sigh. 🙂
Glad I’m not the only one who oohs and ahhs over this store. I am glad you guys liked the pics.
I love that they pull the shots manually. Unfortunately, I never bother to stop here due to the long line (out the door). Guess I should do an early morning run. I enjoy reading your articles and appreciate your passion for coffee. Please, keep ’em coming!