Starbucks starts serving beer and wine and tapas-like small plates in NYC starting tomorrow, Tuesday, August 18th. But it’s only after 4pm, and only in one location, in Brooklyn.
The Williamsburg Starbucks is at 154 North Seventh St., and will be serving four different microbrews from Brooklyn Brewery, and ten wines by the glass, including a prosecco and Malbec.
Small plates include a truffle mac and cheese, bacon-wrapped dates and a salumi plate.
It’s the first NYC outpost for the Starbucks Evening program, already featured in more than 70 shops around the country. Starbucks is expanding it to additional cities this week, too, including Denver, Miami, Orlando and Northern California,
According to USA Today Starbucks announced in 2010 that it would experiment with wine, craft beer and small plates at a few stores in an effort to boost traffic after 4pm, when sales tended to slow down. Stores in Washington state, Oregon, Los Angeles, Chicago, Florida, and Atlanta markets were the first to test beer and wine.
Starbucks desccribes the program as an opportunity for groups like artist collectives, writer clubs, book clubs, knitting circles, homeowner associations and even Bible study groups to meet, instead of in a bar or somebody’s house.
Company research indicates Starbucks Evenings is especially popular with women for online daters to meet for the first time, as a safer, more friendly spot than a bar.
Starbucks nabbed its beer-and-wine license from the State Liquor Authority late last year, despite opposition from Community Board 1 and an anti-Starbucks petition signed by more than 500 local residents, according to DNAinfo.
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