Three decades ago, Howard Schultz got the idea of bringing a European-style coffeehouse to America. He believed that people needed to slow down, to "smell the coffee" and enjoy life a little more. The result was Starbucks. This coffeehouse doesn't sell just coffee, it sells the Starbucks Experience - one that enriches customers' lives. The smells, the hissing steam, the comfy chairs - all contribute to the Starbucks ambience.

Starbucks gives customers what it calls a "third place" - away from home and away from work - a place for conversation and a sense of community. As a result, Starbucks has transformed coffee from a commodity to a $4 splurge, and the company's sales and profits have risen like steam off a mug of hot java. Today, with more than 21,000 stores in 65 countries, Starbucks is the "premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world".

To take the Starbucks Experience even further, they have recently announced plans to design and build a completely original coffee Roastery and Tasting room, to be connected to an actual Starbucks retail outlet. This will allow customers to enjoy their favourite brew in the comfort of an outlet, while viewing the actual coffee roasting and brewing process - "behind the curtain".

There's an element of nostalgia here too: the roastery is to be located in Seattle, just "nine blocks away from the first ever Starbucks store". Schultz goes so far as to describe this new experience as the "Willy Wonka of coffee."

(Adapted from Starbucks Roastery and Tasting Room, 2015)

Question:

Many people form impressions of a retailer before entering its facilities or just after entering. A retailer that takes a proactive, integrated approach to make a certain "look," engages in visual merchandising.

Analyse the key elements of the atmosphere that Starbucks as a store-based retailer can use to influence the psychological feeling a customer gets when visiting them.

*Assumptions of retail knowledge can be applied.