Starbucks has launched its Inclusive Spaces framework to enhance store accessibility for both employees and customers with disabilities.
The initiative is part of the company’s commitment to inclusivity and has been integrated into the design of a new store that opened on 16 February 2024 in Washington DC.
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The framework includes both physical and digital features such as an updated point-of-sale (POS) system that can accommodate a wider range of users.
The POS system offers an adjustable stand, voice assist, screen magnification and visual order confirmation to support diverse needs and languages.
The framework also introduces customer order status boards for visual updates on order progress and power-operated doors with an easy-to-use vertical push button.
The store’s acoustics and lighting have been optimised to improve communication, and the Starbucks Clover Vertica brewer has been designed with accessibility in mind, featuring larger, more tactile buttons and dials.
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By GlobalDataStarbucks has also considered mobility within the store, ensuring a continuous, unobstructed path for all customers.
Counters have been reduced and include overhangs to facilitate wheelchair access and enhance interactions between customers and employees.
The company has confirmed that all new and renovated Starbucks-operated stores in the US will incorporate the Inclusive Spaces framework.
The framework was developed in collaboration with a diverse group of customers, employees and accessibility experts, and aims to provide scalable solutions for retail environments.
Starbucks store operations senior vice-president Katie Young stated: “At Starbucks, we have challenged ourselves to imagine what’s possible when we take a closer look at the many ways our partners and customers interact with us and experience our stores every day.
“Building and scaling an Inclusive Store framework is central to our mission of connection and will lead to greater access for all.”
This month, Baristas del Caribe, the operator of Starbucks Puerto Rico, broadened the brand’s footprint in the region with the inauguration of two new stores.
