Check Out The New LEED-Certified, Eco-Friendly Starbucks
What does the newest eco-friendly Starbucks location look like? Pretty freaking cool. The chain has opened its newest LEED-certified, sustainably sourced location in Northglenn, Colo., forever changing how the brand is looking at sustainability.
FastCo took a tour through the new location to see how it differs from your typical Starbucks joint, and found some key differences. The smaller, "modular" location doesn't have the typical community feeling, with lots of seating (and lots of outlets for your power-hungry laptops). Instead, it's a smaller drive-up (only 500 square feet) that is built out of locally sourced materials (the Colorado location is made out of Wyoming snow fencing). What's crazier is that these prefab stores are built at at a factory, and dropped off with a truck, making them much different from the larger locations we're all used to. But don't be fooled by the "mass-produced" tag: all the stores must be made out of materials within a 500-mile radius. They even say the new locations will "glow in the dark" (with LEED, eco-friendly lights, of course).
Starbucks is testing these eco stores in 500 locations; the first Seattle flagship was made out of reclaimed shipping containers. We can't wait to see how the rest of these prefab Starbucks stores shape up.