Starbucks and Amazon have partnered to open the first cashier-less coffee shop in New York amid countrywide labor struggles.
Starbucks Pickup opened Thursday on Manhattan’s 59th Street and is combined with Amazon Go’s “Just Walk Out” technology in order to offer customers “convenience” and “connection” while shopping, according to a press release from Starbucks.
“The new Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go is designed to provide our customers with an experience that delivers convenience and connection in an effortless way,” said Katie Young, the senior vice president of global growth and development with Starbucks.
Along with offering the full Starbucks menu, the Starbucks Pickup cafe will feature food and drinks from the Amazon Go store as well as a variety of pre-made salads, sandwiches, snacks, and bakery items.
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Additional stores are expected to be opened in 2022 as the companies seek to offer customers more “convenience, higher levels of mobile ordering and contactless pay, and reduced waiting time in lines.”
Roughly 4.4 million workers in the United States quit their jobs in September, an increase from the previous record of 4.3 million people in August.
“Our goal with this new store concept is to give our customers the ability to choose which experience is right for them as they go through their day,” said Young. “Whether it is utilizing the Starbucks and Amazon apps to purchase food and beverages on the go or deciding to stay in the lounge for the traditional ‘third place’ experience Starbucks is known for.”
The Labor Department announced on Thursday that jobless claims had lowered to 268,000. While this marked the lowest amount of applications for unemployment benefits since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it was also a higher number than officials had predicted.
Currently, the unemployment rate rests at 4.6% after the October job report showed that 531,000 jobs had been added to the economy.
“Amazon Go and Starbucks share a common vision to provide innovative in-store experiences that are centered on the customer,” said Dilip Kumar, the vice president of physical retail and technology at Amazon.
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Amazon announced in September that they were partnering with Whole Foods to make its cashier-less technology available for use at the grocery retailer’s locations starting in the new year.
