The coffee giant, based in Seattle, with more than 17,000 locations nationwide, has never had a business like the first opening this week in the city in Texas Brownsville, in which a computer -controlled robot arm did a large part of the work by giving a layer of concrete on another.
The location-only Drive-Thru Ist-Soll will be opened on Friday and makes Starbucks one of the few large retailers in the country who have made 3D printing for commercial construction work.
Builders have mainly used the technology in residential construction to be innovative in order to tackle an affordable real estate crisis.
Starbucks does not say whether there are more shops on the horizon or why the Brownsville company has selected, which has around 190,000 inhabitants and at least four other locations in the region.
At first glance, the compact rectangular building with the Starbucks logo looks like any other, but a close look shows cut walls that resemble stacked tube.
Building experts say that business is an example of an industry that develops the possibilities for using the technology.
“It is still early,” said James Rose, director of the Institute for Intelligent Structures at the University of Tennessee.
“I am pleased that people do all of these different things with it, and I think at some point we will find out what their best use is. But at the moment I think they will see a lot of experiments and I think that's a good thing.”
Starbucks confirmed that this is the first 3D printed shop in the USA, but rejected an interview request.
Andrew McCoy, deputy director of research and innovation at the Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech, described the new “Leading Edge” business.
In general, the construction with 3D technology still costs more than the conventional wooden frame, said McCoy. But he said it helps to tackle a lack of work and can be a way to build up a little faster. He assumes that it will eventually become more cost -mined.
“You start to see that the technology gets faster and smaller,” said McCoy. “It is easier to use.”