After its month and a half long renovation, the highly anticipated reopening of Starbucks at Texas Woman’s University finally opened its door to the students and faculty of TWU once more. This newly renovated version of Starbucks features a new type of environment that is different from the ones that staff and students witnessed before the renovation started. TWU’s Starbucks reopened on Oct. 9 at 12 p.m in the Blagg-Huey Library.
“We are trying to give it a cleaner, more updated look,” assistant dining retail director Mary Snipes said. “[We] changed some of the artwork and [are] trying to give it a more updated look, they’re trying to make it airy, a little more inviting and to widen the to-go area.”
The newly renovated Starbucks not only features new artwork and furniture, but it also features new products like an owl cake pop and a nitro drink, which TWU’s Starbucks did not feature before the start of its renovation.
“[I like] the nitro aspect of [the new Starbucks],” TWU Starbucks manager Crystle Rhea said. “I was with their corporate stores for about six years, and the stores that I worked at never had the Nitro. I’m really looking forward to doing the Nitro drink with customers.”
The renovation that occurred with TWU’s Starbucks also had its ups and downs during its construction. This included plumbing issues, registrar issues, getting new equipment as well as new furniture.
“Renovations take time, you run into logistics and shipping like that, it takes a minute,” Snipes said. “Getting all of the stuff that they need, getting matching colors, it can be a struggle. It went relatively smooth and went relatively quickly as refurnishing goes. They did it in a timely manner, because I was expecting them to be done in two to three months, and the fact that get it done quickly, I was fairly impressed.”
One of the things that the new Starbucks will drastically change is the staff, which will feature new employees. Although the new Starbucks will feature new products and equipment, there are some aspects of the old Starbucks that Snipes believes people will miss.
“I’ve had some people comment that the furniture like the green chair, they will miss that,” Snipes said. “They were comfortable and the updated furniture [has] no fabric, and it is all wood and metal. It’s more of a minimalistic look, but other than that I don’t think [the students and staff are] going to miss the old wallpaper or the artwork [we] took down.”
Rhea is looking forward to incorporating TWU’s Starbucks into her daily routine once more after its highly anticipated reopening, she said.
“I got to know a few students before the renovation,” Rhea said. “I’m excited to [have] friendly conversations with all the other customers again.”
Clarise Tujardon can be reached via email at ctujardon@twu.edu.
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