Over the years, Starbucks has covered their target markets by distributing products in various ways – from selling them in their own shops (which come in all sizes and shapes) to making contracts with, for example, 7eleven and chains of convenience stores alike which would sell the products for them. Now, the time has come to rethink the way coffee reaches customers (as if that was really necessary), a job Starbucks gave to one of their in-house architectural offices. The result was a modular, drive-through/walk-up mini shop that can be carried around on the back of a truck. How convenient, right?

Photo: FastCoDesign.com

The first one popped up in Colorado, on the side of a very busy road that takes most local people to work every day. According to Anthony Perez, senior concept design manager at Starbucks, the way to make the prefab shop more inviting to local people was standardizing the interior, while the materials on the exterior would make it “feel like it’s part of the local environment.” Using materials collected from within a radius no larger than 500 miles secured Starbucks a LEED certificate for this project. Take a look at some photos of the new shop below, and tell us what you think of it:

Photos: FastCoDesign.com

Not long ago, Starbucks did two very interesting projects for their stores – one in the Netherlands, and one in Japan, so be sure to check them out, too.