Starbucks partners with Amazon Go to open up a cashier-less café

Starbucks is opening a pickup café in Manhattan that uses Amazon’s cashier-less technology to attract customers to buy a quick coffee or snack.

Hit by a labor crunch in the U.S., Starbucks, and other companies are expanding labor-saving technology like artificial intelligence, digital touch screens, and robotics.

The partnership with Amazon is the latest step in Starbucks’ plan to adapt its coffee shop locations to customers’ new habits. Almost a year and a half ago, Starbucks announced it was hastening plans to revamp its U.S. footprints, inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic’s abrupt shifts to how consumers wanted to buy and consume their coffee. In addition to shutting down as many as 400 stores in 18 months, the company’s strategy also included opening more pick up locations in dense urban markets, building double-drive thru lanes in suburban areas, and installing walk-up windows.

Starbucks is opening its first Pickup store with Amazon Go location in New York City on 59th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenue, with a flag outside waving both companies’ logos. Global coffee brand, Starbucks, and retail giant Amazon plan to open at least two more locations together over the next year. The second café will be in Manhattan, in the New York Times Building located at 40th Street and 8th Avenue.