Safeway adding a Starbucks kiosk

Store estimates stand's opening in mid-May

Photo: Tom Tomlinson, an electrician with Power City Electric, works on preparing part of the area in Safeway that will go to the new Starbucks kiosk Monday morning.

There's about to be one more place in town to get a caffeine fix.

The Moses Lake Safeway is in the process of renovating to bring in a Starbucks kiosk, said store manager Jared Knoll.

"Safeway looks at traffic, size of store and if they can fit it in, as far as demographics to see if it would be something the community would support and that it would be profitable," Knoll said.

It also depends on whether a store manager wants it, he said.

"It's kind of something that sets us apart from our competitors, " Knoll said. "I think we're all looking for things like that, that we can add into or bring on board to bring customers in."

Knoll said the move has been in the works for about a year, but said he didn't really believe it was going to happen until the Starbucks actually began construction.

The new Starbucks is estimated to be open May 16 or 17, Knoll said.

Locating in Safeway is going to make it easier for people downtown to get their Starbucks coffee than the location on Maiers Road, Knoll said.

"Most people won't drive the distance to get up there just for a cup of coffee unless they're hitting the freeway," he said. "But for here, people that are going to work downtown or even hitting Highway 17 from this area can stop in and get a cup to go. Not only that, but Starbucks up there, you can't get a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread or things like that. It's just kind of an extra benefit to our customers that want to do their shopping as well."

Wendy Kilponen, Starbucks district manager for the Moses Lake area, said that the kiosk in the Safeway would be a license store, which is one managed by a licensee and not owned or managed by the company itself, but are as much like the company operated locations as possible.

"It will offer the same coffee, tea and great customer service," Kilponen said. "This is a great thing. Often, the license locations offer us the opportunity to reach an expanded customer base. What frequently happens is, customers are introduced to the Starbucks experience for the first time in our licensed stores."

Knoll said that the kiosk would be operated by Safeway employees, who would be certified by Starbucks.

He stressed that the renovations being done in anticipation of the kiosk opening are not going to affect customer shopping.

"Everything is still accessible to them," he said. "We're doing everything we can not to interrupt the customer shopping experience. Tuesday it was pretty loud — they were cutting concrete and digging trenches. But other than that, customers are really excited when they find out what's coming there, and I've heard nothing but positive reaction."