Less is more at Starbucks Corp.
The Seattle-based coffee chain is betting it can increase sales by spending the same amount of money as usual, about $250 million a year, to renovate only about half the approximately 1,900 shops due for a facelift in 2011.
Emphasizing stores in precincts like Manhattan’s Soho district, and employing such eco-friendly touches as reclaimed furniture, will lift the whole brand, said Arthur Rubinfeld, Starbucks’ global development chief.
Starbucks is trying to caffeinate sales growth, which may have topped 10 percent in the most recent quarter for the first time since March 2008, while paying investors dividends. The strategy risks alienating customers at the unimproved stores as McDonald’s Corp., now pushing its own coffee drinks, plans to pump $1.2 billion into restaurant renovations this year. – Bloomberg
