Coffee Chain Flying High at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport
Latte-loving travelers, rejoice.
Charlotte/Douglas International Airport is scheduled to open its sixth -- yes, sixth -- Starbucks today, and plans are in the works to open two more.
If that sounds like a lot, consider that Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has 17.
Just in time for the holidays, the newest one at Charlotte's airport will be the first on the ticket-counter side of security checkpoints, which means family members waiting for a loved one can pass the time with a mocha or chai tea. It plans to be open 24 hours a day, to serve people whose flights arrive late or who become stranded at the airport because of flight cancellations.
HMSHost, which runs the airport's concessions, says customer demand for coffee remains strong. Of all the places at the airport selling food, Starbucks has proved the most resistant to what retail experts call "line-balking," the tendency of customers to avoid lines longer than three people deep.
For Starbucks, "people will wait their turn," said Larry Jenkins, general manager with HMSHost in Charlotte. "With other things you can say, `Nah, I'll do without.' "
The airport is also planning to add Starbucks locations on Concourses A and E. There are 28 company-run stores in the Charlotte area. Stores at airport and inside retail operations are run by licensees.
Though some joke that Starbucks are everywhere, the Seattle-based coffee giant says the country is nowhere near Starbucks saturation. It plans to open another 1,300 U.S. stores in the next year, up from the 7,300 it now has, en route to ultimately about 15,000.
Tony Mecia: (704) 358-5069
Starbucks also will be showing up at two Harris Teeter locations in the Charlotte area, the grocery chain said this week.
Taking the place of former Bank of America locations, Starbucks will have a spot at the Providence Commons location by mid-December, a Harris Teeter spokeswoman said. Another is planned at the Arboretum store in early 2007.
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