Starbucks Reserve opening in Birmingham

Loyal Birmingham coffee drinkers have been waiting for this move for over a year – Starbucks is opening their Reserve bar location at 101 N. Old Woodward at the corner of Maple in downtown Birmingham on Friday, September 29. It will be the first Reserve Starbucks location in Michigan. Starbucks is currently located at 135 S. Old Woodward, and will close that location on Sunday, September 24, and move to the much larger space, which is about 3,500 square feet, the following Friday. The location is an iconic one in downtown Birmingham, at the northwest corner of Maple and Old Woodward, and, as one real estate professional noted, one of the best locations in southeast Michigan in one of the wealthiest communities in Michigan. For decades, it was the location of Wilson Drugs, and then the location, for 15 years, of the Gap. After the Gap left, Cosi filled the space for 15 years until they moved in late April 2016. Now it will be the popular high-traffic destination of Starbucks, with the addition of their Reserve Bar. New copper signage lets visitors know just what the location is now. A beautiful copper accented bar is the central focus of the new location, with a contemporary copper grid wall accent and a painted mural of coffee roasting. Starbucks, which has just about 30 Reserve bars in the U.S., out of over 26,000 locations around the world, said “inspired by our Seattle Reserve Roastery, Starbucks has begun opening new locations that include an immersive Reserve experience bar – designed to take the company’s special Reserve coffee and make it into an interactive aspect of these stores where barista craft is the cornerstone. These stores will have our core menu, such as a brewed cup of Pike Place Roast, but are also designed to integrate the educational aspects of the Roastery with an immersive coffee bar featuring premium brewing through siphon, Clover, chemex or Black Eagle, as well as Nitro Cold Brew taps. In addition, these stores will offer specialty beverages from our Seattle Roastery, such as the Affogato menu, which features artisan ice cream paired with our small-lot Reserve coffees, the Melrose, which is our take on the classic Manhattan and takes our Reserve Cold Brew, shake with ice, cherry bitters and demerara syrup – finish with a maraschino cherry, as well as the Americano Con Crema, which is espresso and orange-piloncillo syrup finished with coffee-spiced foam and demerara syrup.”