The Pike Place store and how Starbucks grew from one shop
Starbucks opened in Seattle in 1971, started by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker. The first shop sold whole coffee beans, tea and spices, not brewed drinks. In 1976 the store moved to 1912 Pike Place, near Pike Place Market, and that location is now known as the “original” Starbucks.
The name came from the first mate in Moby-Dick.
Howard Schultz
Howard Schultz joined as director of marketing in 1982. After a trip to Milan, he wanted to bring Italian espresso bar culture to the United States. The founders were not convinced, so Schultz started his own coffee bar company, Il Giornale. In 1987 he bought Starbucks and merged the two.
Growth
Starbucks went public in 1992 and expanded rapidly, eventually opening tens of thousands of stores around the world. It made drinks such as the Frappuccino and pumpkin spice latte into seasonal events and pushed mobile ordering early.
The Pike Place shop today
The Pike Place store keeps an older look and the original brown logo. Lines of visitors stretch down the sidewalk most days.
The company has faced union drives, slowing sales and pushback on prices in recent years and has gone through several leadership changes. Its founding store remains one of Seattle’s busiest tourist stops.
