SHANGHAI, China – As Starbucks celebrates its 50th Anniversary, the company is expanding its Greener Store Framework to help reduce its environmental impact and leverage its scale for good to accelerate the global movement towards a more sustainable future. Starbucks is opening its first Greener Store outside of North America in Shanghai, China with a focus on circularity.
The Shanghai Greener Store has been designed and built to reduce waste, repurpose goods and serve as a platform for future innovation.
Design & Construction ‐ Creating an environmentally‐conscious third place:
- This is the first store outside North America to be certified under the Starbucks Greener Store Framework
- The Shanghai Greener Store is the first Starbucks store in the Chinese mainland to use recycled and lower‐impact building materials such as wood reclaimed from the renovation of other Starbucks stores. It is expected that many aspects of the store interior can be recycled, upcycled or biodegraded.
- First Starbucks store in the Chinese mainland to feature a Modular Bar and Back‐Of‐House system that can easily dismantled and reassembled in different configurations to enable reuse and recycling.
Daily Operations – Promoting responsible living through a cup of coffee:
- In a first for a Starbucks store in the Chinese mainland, the iconic Starbucks green aprons are made from recycled Starbuck PET cups using advanced plastic‐to‐textile technologies. Each apron achieves approximately one kilogram of carbon reduction in its lifecycle.
- This is the first Starbucks store in the Chinese mainland to offer Sustainable Coffee Classrooms hosted by Starbucks coffee ambassadors.
- First Starbucks store in the Chinese mainland to recycle coffee grounds for use as fertilizer.
- The Shanghai Greener Store is the first Starbucks store in the Chinese mainland to be powered by renewable energy purchased through a nationally certified platform.
Customer Experience – Making sustainability part of everyday lifestyles:
- First Starbucks store to feature a ‘Circular Lifestyle Lab’ curating sustainability‐themed exhibitions from artists advocating for a more sustainable future.
- Over half of the store menu will be plant‐based, including the debut of 15 new food items.
- Customers without their own cups or tumblers can still do their part with the launch of Grande‐sized reusable cup.
Design & Construction ‐ Creating an environmentally‐conscious third place:
The Shanghai Greener Store uses recycled materials and industry‐first responsible materials, achieving a balance between functional use, spatial aesthetics and circularity.
Wood reclaimed from the renovation of the Beijing Sanlitun Taikooli Flagship store were used to craft the countertop of the Experience Bar, steps of the” stadium seating,” as well as door handles, giving material that would have otherwise gone into landfills a new lease of life.
Wood recovered from stores in Shanghai was used to make table tops, while table bases are made from recycled materials combined with recycled red bricks reclaimed from stores
