Two years ago, Starbucks tried a rebranding beta: it changed the name and design of a store in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. The store, renamed "15th Ave Coffee and Tea" was meant to seem like an
independent shop "inspired" by Starbucks.
It described it at the time as "eclectic and raw, featuring locally sourced and reused materials." It added the $100,000 makeover "as a
concept store, 15th Ave serves as a real-time, real-world exploratory environment for our designers."
Now the company is returning the "Starbucks" sign to the awning. It will
continue with a second such experiment in Seattle, Roy Street Coffee. And, evidently, innovations garnered from the 15th Ave experiment will find their way to Starbucks menus.
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