I dropped by the Starbucks at 40th and Bridgeport, in Tacoma, Washington, this past Sunday. It was “National Coffee Day,” and I decided that I would visit Washington State’s most recent Clover – Reserve Starbucks. This is store#342, and it’s actually a “relocation” store. This means that a much smaller, nearby cafe-only Starbucks closed, and a larger “relocated” store opened, retaining the same store number. Often times, the partners move with the store too.
This newer Starbucks is located at 3830 Bridgeport Way, Tacoma, Washington, 98466. Their number is (253) 565 – 0428. Since the store has been “relocated,” it carries with it its original grand opening date, which was May 24, 1991. It opened up in this new location on August 30, 2013, launching its Clover and drive through.
For those who remember, in 1991, the Starbucks logo looked a little different than it does now. It’s been through changes! I remember the 1987 – 1992 version logo well, as that time frame dates to my own earliest Starbucks experiences. In 1991, this store opened with a clock inside of it, featuring the 1987 – 1992 era logo:
I think it’s pretty cool that the store designers kept the original Starbucks clock to display in this new, large Starbucks. I remember in the 1990s, it was pretty common that Starbucks stores were designed with a clock on the wall. That seems pretty rare now. (The 12th & Columbia Starbucks in Seattle has a modern design with a clock, but I can’t think of another store where store design team has incorporated a clock into a modern Starbucks store design – of course, I really haven’t been to that many Starbucks stores!)
That old clock hangs over an area of wall seating:
I took a few photos facing the espresso bar/Clover area, though mostly the store stayed busy enough that it was hard to get good photos without a million people around:
The whole store is really very pretty! There are plenty of comfortable seats and a large community table:
The funniest thing happened while I was visiting this store: Winter dropped by. This wasn’t planned at all! This was truly just a coincidence!
Winter is a Starbucks customer who is famous for being on a life-long journey to visit every single Starbucks store, world wide. I asked him how many stores he has been to, and to date, he has visited more than 11, 400 Starbucks locations. Wow! Winter plays competitive Scrabble, and was in the area for a Starbucks tournament, and decided to drop by this store.
We joked a little bit about who is a “famous” customer. I don’t really think there is anyone who is truly famous just for being a Starbucks customer. However, Winter has been featured in the news on numerous occasions, and has his own Wikipedia profile, so I think he totally wins as “most famous” Starbucks customer! (I think it’s cool he’s got a Wikipedia page!)
As we talked about it, there were only three names of customers that we (or at least I) could come up with who might be “famous” customers. In case you want to follow all of them, here they are:
- Beautiful – On a one year challenge to eat all Starbucks food for the whole year. She blogs about that at her website “For one year of my life.”
- Melody – I try to learn as much as possible about what Starbucks is doing, keep on top of their tests, new stores, promotions and emerging brands, and then write about it here.
- Winter – On a journey to visit every Starbucks store. His website is StarbucksEverywhere.net.
Turning back to this beautiful store, here’s what the front of it looks like:
I hope you get the chance to drop by this lovely store. I am sorry that I missed the store manager when I dropped by on the 29th. I hear that Melissa, this store’s manager, is fantastic, and of course very proud of her new store. While I was visiting, a barista named “Becca” came by and offered to sample some Jamaica Blue Mountain, asking me if I had tried it already. Turns out that is one of her favorite coffees.
Thank you every at store #342 for your excellent hospitality on National Coffee Day.
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This store is probably one of my favorites especially with having a clock and the seating seems so inviting. Funny how you ran into Winter. Where does he live? I also like the outside seating area. Glad you included yourself in the list of famous customers!
These are the same stools used in the new Clover store that opened here recently. The wood looks the same in the clover area/espresso bar too. I have pictures and will send them soon, Melody. Another nearby store had a bit of a remodel this summer and this same wood is there too. The counter tops here are both dark wood though. It would be nice if all stores had that clock.
@Becky E – You are totally right about something – this is the new standard design, so we are seeing a lot of the same. I have slowed down writing about stores partly because of that. The clock on this store is it’s most remarkable feature.
@Purple1 – I don’t know where Winter lives – he has moved around quite a bit. He moves often for his work. He was in Portland for a while, but I don’t think he is there now. Originally, he is from Texas.
I am a little jealous of his Wikipedia page! 🙂
Purple1 – One more thing – thank you for the kind words about including myself as a famous customer.
There have been many times I have thought it would be easy to write an article just about the things that Starbucks customers do and blog about. Like I said, “famous” – not really. But there is also the guy blogging about every NYC Starbucks.
The list would be something like –
http://nycstarbucks.com/ – Blogger about NYC Starbucks
http://www.starbuckseverywhere.net – Winter
http://www.starbucksmelody.com – Me
http://for1yearofmylife.com/ – Beautiful’s blog about eating Starbucks for one year
The only thing is, I think that kind of article could lead to way too many snarky comments! Hahaha!
Edit: Oh my I can’t believe I just thought of this – add a surveymonkey/some kind of poll to that kind of article, and it would be entertaining! LOL
Just looked at the NYC blogger and it seems at a quick look his style is very different than yours. The reason I believe your blog clicks is that you cover so many angles of SB so we learn alot plus your community rocks! I have met such interesting and devoted SB customers on this site.
Thanks Melody for another interesting post by Starbucks #1 Ambassador and Famous person 🙂 .
I agree that the clock is the best feature. Sorry to see that Starbucks is still using the little round tables and poorly constructed wood chairs. I noticed the cushion chairs with arms and they look like low seating (not good for us seniors) and again made from the cheap wood.
It must be fate that you ran into Winter. At first, when I saw “Winter” I thought you were going to say Tacoma was getting an early snow 😉 . That’s what happens when I spend too much time following the weather maps.
Thanks for brightening my morning.
I’ve read the NYC blog several times and have learned some things about NYC. But there aren’t enough pictures to make it real interesting. And there’s really no comments or a way to discuss. Maybe he wants it that way and that’s fine too. But I like coming here to see what is happening and what people are saying. I get the latest and greatest news here and am so glad that you have such a great blog, Melody. I mean seriously, Starbucks knows you are the #1 famous customer.
BeckyE – I thought the same thing about that NYC Starbucks blog – I wanted more pictures. I’ve left a comment for him here or there, because I know that blog owners love comments, and it’s encourage. But a lack of comments is very often driven by a lack of people visiting your website. 99% of everyone is lurker. It is not exaggeration to say that each comment on a blog or whatever can easily represent at least (minimum!) 100 people who visited that site. I have days where my analytics tell me that I’ve had 2,500 unique visitors, but I will get like 4 comments that day. And Becky, thank you! 🙂 *blushing*