The Dutch might be celebrated by most for their progressive take on all things sinful, but it is their highly discerning shopping habits that draw brands to Dutch cities to test innovative concepts. What New York is for showbiz, Holland is for branding. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.
Starbucks is putting that Dutch brand consumer nous to the test by opening its first global ‘coffee laboratory’ in Amsterdam. Situated in a former bank vault in the chic new Bank development on the popular Rembrandtplein, Starbucks will use the 430sqm shop to test alternative brewing methods, like Europe’s first Clover®, a sort of mechanized French press that its makers claim is the best thing to happen to coffee since the espresso machine, as well as to introduce in-store baking concepts and social media strategies.
What makes the ‘laboratory’ a laboratory is that innovation and experimentation are integrated into the shop’s DNA. What works in Amsterdam will be rolled out to the rest of Europe.
For local café-goers, Starbucks' main attraction, however, will be the shop’s non-cookie-cutter attention to design detail. Under the direction of Dutch-born Liz Muller, Starbucks' concept design director, the subterranean space is a smorgasbord of quirky Dutch design touches like antique Delft tiles, bicycle inner tube walls and ‘Delfts blauw’ murals. All the main fixtures, including the 17m coffee bar and enormous communal table, are constructed out of recycled Dutch oak, and the chairs reclaimed from local schools and spruced up.
Because it’s Starbucks, there will be indie neigh-sayers. But with multi-level spaces that cameo as stages for local bands and a progressive Twitter strategy aimed to entice locals in for fresh cookies, Starbucks The Bank, laboratory or not, may be the most site-specific Starbucks the coffee chain has ever opened.
‘There are no brand manuals, no guidelines, no proscribed colour palettes,’ says Muller. ‘The brief for our concept stores is simply to push the brand, if need be beyond our comfort zone. To create locally relevant stores that integrate local design in a sustainable way. No two concept stores will ever look the same.’
For Muller, Amsterdam is the logical site for its first laboratory. ‘For starters, our European roasting plant is right here, ensuring the freshest beans we can offer. But more important is the local coffee reference: The Dutch East India Company was the first spice and coffee trader in the world.’
Starbucks plans to open more concept stores around the world, but has no set agenda. Muller: ‘We’re open to any place where we can find an intersection between the local culture and our brand.’
Which is a nice way to say, ‘could be anywhere'.
The main attraction will be the shop’s non-cookie-cutter attention to design detail
Concept design director, Dutch-born Liz Muller says: ‘The brief for our concept stores is simply to push the brand, if need be beyond our comfort zone. There are no brand manuals, no guidelines, no proscribed colour palettes'
Adds Muller: 'We want to create locally relevant stores that integrate local design in a sustainable way. No two concept stores will ever look the same'
All the main fixtures, including the 17m coffee bar and enormous communal table, are constructed out of recycled Dutch oak
The chairs are reclaimed from local schools and have been spruced up
There are multi-level spaces that cameo as stages for local bands
Starbucks plans to open more concept stores around the world, but has no set agenda. Says Muller: ‘We’re open to any place where we can find an intersection between the local culture and our brand’
ADDRESS
Starbucks
Herengracht 595
1017 CE Amsterdam
-
A revamped Edinburgh apartment combines Californian-style modernism with modern craftArcher + Braun have transformed an apartment in a historic house with finely tuned contemporary additions and sympathetic attention to detail
-
Formafantasma’s biodiversity-boosting installation in a Perrier Jouët vineyard is cross-pollination at its bestFormafantasma and Perrier Jouët unveil the first project in their ‘Cohabitare’ initiative, ‘not only a work of art but also a contribution to the ecosystem’
-
Gingerbread City: architects sculpt London out of the season's favourite treatUntil December 29 in Chelsea, see London brought to life in a seasonal-appropriate medium by leading architects and designers
-
Solar light and modular cabin win Life-Enhancer of the Year: Wallpaper* Design Awards 2022Marjan van Aubel's ‘Sunne’ solar light and the Space of Mind cabin, by Studio Puisto, Made by Choice and Protos Demos, are the joint winners of this year's Life-Enhancer category
-
Best of Dutch Design Week 2021After a virtual edition, Dutch Design Week is back for 2021 (until 24 October) with a physical showcase of creative talent across the city of Eindhoven celebrating the design event’s 20th anniversary
-
Ten years of Muller Van Severen, at Design Museum GhentA new exhibition by Belgian design duo Muller Van Severen (until 6 March 2022) features a retrospective of the studio’s ten years as well as a curation of pieces from the Design Museum Ghent collections
-
Dutch Design Week 2020: Ikea’s virtual greenhouse, networking fungi, and rethinking wasteMoving its programme of talks and exhibition online (17 – 25 October), the Eindhoven-based design event virtually showcases future-oriented design thinking, material innovation and next generation talent
-
Set in stone: Salvatori opens Dutch flagship with Piet BoonSalvatori throws open the doors to its first Dutch flagship, inside Piet Boon’s Amsterdam Headquarters
-
Dutch Design Week 2019 captures the zeitgeistWhat to expect from the 18th year of Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, from social design to sustainable innovations
-
Fashion sustainability explored and rebranded by a new digital experience in Amsterdam -
Former military barracks and a 1960s home to host new launches at Dutch Design Week
