The Starbucks sign is seen on the window of the World’s first ever Starbucks coffee shop.
I visited the first Starbucks location in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, which opened over 50 years ago.
The store started by only selling whole coffee beans, a completely different business model than the one used today.
Starbucks has become known for drive-thrus and customized cold drinks, a change that was clear during my visit.
On a recent trip to Seattle, I visited the original Starbucks location at Pike Place Market.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
The store is located among other stands and restaurants in the market, and still bears the original logo.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
It was easy to find the store, because there was a line of waiting customers about half a mile long mid-morning on a Monday.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
A rope was set up to handle lines, and workers standing outside directed customers to enter when there was room.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
The first thing I saw inside was a sign advertising the chain’s new fall drinks, which recently drove Starbucks’ most successful week ever.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Source: Insider
Everything about the store is an homage to the history of Starbucks.
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A small column marks the store as the original location, with a ship to acknowledge Starbucks’ namesake of Starbuck from Moby Dick.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
The original counters and floors are still there, my tour guide told me.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Starbucks originally only sold whole beans rather than brewed coffee, so different varieties of coffee beans are preserved on display beneath the counters.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
My host, the district manager of the store, led us in a coffee tasting of Pike Place coffee, named after the original store.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
I learned that tasting coffee is a lot like wine tasting, and you have to smell it first.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Then, I slurped it as instructed to pick up notes of chocolate in the blend.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
The Pike Place Special Reserve roast is only available at this location.
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Workers at the store take shifts to bag the coffee for sale.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Every bag of Pike Place roast is hand bagged and labeled right at that store, on the original counters.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
The store is part museum, part gift shop, part functional Starbucks location.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
The teddy bears for sale wear black aprons instead of green, which at Starbucks means the wearer has completed the Coffee Master program.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Source: Starbucks
Most of the stock alludes to Seattle or Pike Place in some way.
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Some of the merchandise is exclusive to this location, like the Pike Place mug that has nods to the market.
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Rare or exclusive mugs are popular with fans and have become part of a large reselling ecosystem online.
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Source: Eater
Pieces of the store’s history are mixed in with merchandise, like this announcement of its opening.
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An original coffee bag is framed on the wall.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Features like this rolling ladder allude to the location’s history pre-Starbucks, as a seed and spice store.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Many of the design choices at the location are all about how Starbucks fits into the larger Pike Place Market community, so it fittingly has the market’s pig mascot sitting above the door.
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The pig, known as “Pork and Beans,” is completely covered in coffee beans.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
The other side of the store, where drinks are ordered and served, feels like it’s from a totally different era.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Half of the restaurant is dedicated to Starbucks’ history of selling coffee beans and hot coffee, but the actual bar where baristas work to make drinks shows how different the Starbucks of today is from its beginnings.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Behind the bar, baristas were rushing to fill orders for cold drinks, like cold brew and Frappuccinos, and other highly customized drinks.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Cold drinks now make up about 70% of sales, though they weren’t on the menu when Starbucks first opened.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Source: Insider
This original location doesn’t have a drive-thru, but drive-thrus make up around 50% of sales at all Starbucks.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Source: Insider
Behind the bar, I could see different syrups and alternative milks available to customers.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Soon, the tools baristas work with will look even more different from the original setup, with new machines in the works designed to optimize cold drink prep.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
Source: Insider
After seeing the first Starbucks location, I’m even more impressed by how the company has managed to completely shift along with changing consumer preferences and become a multi-billion dollar business.
Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
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