AUBURN – Coffee consumers who’d like a little cachet with their lattes can relax. Starbucks – the Seattle-based coffee shop – is coming to Mount Auburn Avenue.
According to Jennifer Guebert, marketing manager for the coffee shop’s New England region, a Starbucks will open in July in a former bank owned by Platz Associates. Plans call for renovating the interior of the building into a cozy, hip coffee shop, including the addition of a fireplace. Exterior work will accommodate drive-through service.
“Starbucks is always looking for new locations for our stores,” said Guebert. “Auburn offers a wonderful environment and our partners are looking forward to becoming an active part of the Auburn community.”
The Auburn store is the first in this area. The chain has shops in Freeport and Brunswick, as well as several in the Portland area.
The coffee chain is in an aggressive growth period. It plans to open about 1,000 stores in the United States in 2005. The company reported record-breaking revenues of $1.4 billion for the 13-week period that ended Jan. 2. That is a 26 percent increase from the same period in 2004.
The increase was partially credited to 642 new company-owned stores that were opened over that 12-month period.
The Turner Street/Mount Auburn Avenue area has seen significant retail development over the past few years. Anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter, Home Depot and BJ’s Wholesale Club, the area has several newcomers, including Maine’s first Lowe’s home improvement store, which opened last month.
Developer Dan Thompson is building a small retail center on six acres near the entrance to Lowe’s, and developer George Schott is negotiating with two restaurant chains on his 50,000-square-foot property near the same intersection. Lamey-Wellehan is nearing completion of its new retail shoe store at 940 Turner St.
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