Starbucks, Amazon Open Joint Store In Midtown

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Coffee shop of the future or cold, robotic dystopia? Call it what you wish: a new Starbucks-Amazon concept store has opened up its doors in Midtown East.

Dubbed Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go, the shop on East 59th Street between Park and Lexington avenues opened Thursday. At its heart is a combination of Starbucks's order-ahead system with Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology, which allows customers to enter the store, grab their chosen items and leave without paying at a register.

The new shop offers a full Starbucks menu along with "a curated assortment of food and beverages" in the Amazon Go market, including salads, sandwiches and bakery items.

There's also a lounge with individual workspaces and expanded tables with USB ports and power outlets.

"The new Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go is designed to provide our customers with an experience that delivers convenience and connection in an effortless way," said Katie Young, Starbucks's senior vice president of global growth and development, in a statement.

Customers who use Starbucks's mobile app to order ahead at this location will enter the store, find their order on a digital screen and then pick it up from a barista. To enter the Amazon Go market and use the lounge seating, they will either use a credit card, the Amazon One palm-scanning system or use an "in-store code' in the Amazon Shopping app

The two mega-companies plan to open more locations of the same combined shop in 2022, with the next one planned for the New York Times Building on West 40th Street and Eighth Avenue.

The Starbucks-Amazon store is open daily at 111 East 59th St.