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After Kicking Off In New York City, Starbucks Takes Its Newest Store Idea To Canada

This article is more than 4 years old.

Last November, Starbucks unveiled a new type of outlet in New York City. Called Starbucks Pickup, it caters only to customer who place orders via the company’s mobile app.

Now Starbucks Pickup is headed to Canada. The coffee giant will open a Starbucks Pickup store in Toronto next month.

It will be located in Commerce Court at 25 King Street West, in the busy financial district a few blocks from Union Station.

This is the second Starbucks Pickup store to open in North America. The first is near New York’s Penn Station.

Both stores are modeled after a concept called Starbucks Now, which the company tested out in Beijing last July.

Starbucks said it would roll out Starbucks Now in more cities in China this year, and it looks like it has a similar plan for North America.

As in New York, the Toronto store operates on a simple concept. Users open their Starbucks mobile app, and select Commerce Court as their pickup location. They place their drink order, then go to the store to pick it up. Their order will be listed on an order board when it’s ready.

There’s no seating area, and drinks can’t be ordered by walking up to the front counter, although baristas can make modifications if a drink order is incorrect.

Starbucks is the latest company to use Canada as a testing ground.

Most notably, McDonald’s is using stores in Southwestern Ontario to try out its attempt at a plant-based burger. It recently announced that it is expanding its test of the P.L.T. — for plant-based, lettuce and tomato — which it also introduced last fall.

In Canada, Starbucks faces some stiff competition from Tim Horton’s, the country’s best-known coffee brand.

However, in the U.S., Starbucks is also facing a battle for well-heeled customers with Dunkin’ (previously known as Dunkin’ Donuts), according to new data from Placer.ai.

In a new report, the research firm, which tracks retail foot track, said Dunkin’ actually has a slight edge in popularity among customers who earn $75,000 to $99,000 a year.

Starbucks beats Dunkin’ among customers who earn $100,000, but the numbers are pretty close: 20.3% of Starbucks’ U.S. customers earn that much, while 19.5% of Dunkin’ customers earn six-figure salaries.

Things tend to widen out in specific cities. For instance, in New York City, 29.2% of Starbucks customers earn $100,000 a year or more, compared with 21.8% for Dunkin’ customers.

Meanwhile, there’s another gap in Florida, where Starbucks has a 3% lead over Dunkin’ in customers earning $100,000 per year.

Placer.ai analyst Ethan Chernofsky says Starbucks is well aware of the cities and regions where it leads Dunkin’. This helps explains why it is focusing marketing efforts in those places, rather than a scatter shot approach.

“This is the true mark of a brand that has mastered its strategic approach to reaching target audiences,” Chernofsky says.

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