Starbucks, Amazon team up for store in New York

Seattle-based companies Starbucks and Amazon will join forces to open the first Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go location in New York. 

The first store, which features a complete Starbucks with salads, sandwiches, baked goods and snacks from Amazon, will open Thursday. At least two other locations are scheduled to open after that, according to a press release from Starbucks.

Customers can order directly from the Starbucks app or shop via Amazon Go, which automatically tracks items in customers’ cart via “Just Walk Out technology,” so no checkout line is required.

“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,” Katie Young, senior vice president of global growth and development at Starbucks, said in the statement.

Dilip Kumar, vice president of physical retail and technology at Amazon, added that the two companies “share a common vision to provide innovative in-store experiences that are centered on the customer.”

For Starbucks, the launch marks a move to more pickup and curbside options.

Even before COVID-19, Starbucks said 80 percent of their business was via to-go orders. Amazon, however, has been working to increase its physical presence by opening Amazon Go stores across the country, according to The Associated Press. 

Earlier this week, Amazon received attention after more than 200 public health experts sent a letter to the company calling on it to improve workplace conditions prior to the holiday shopping season.

The public health practitioners noted in their letter that “injuries among Amazon workers increased dramatically during ‘peak times’ like the holiday season and Amazon’s Prime Day” in the past. 

Late last month, Starbucks was also in the news regarding employee policies after the company announced its intention to raise the minimum wage for its U.S. workers to $15 an hour by the summer of 2022.