Starbucks is testing a smaller café format designed to fit tighter locations without giving up seating, an espresso bar or the option to order in person. A prototype opened in San Antonio in September 2026; the company has not disclosed its square footage.
What is Starbucks’ smaller café format?
It is a compact store design intended to adapt to different site shapes and sizes while preserving features associated with a Starbucks coffeehouse. The San Antonio prototype has comfortable seating, a bakery display and an espresso bar. A shortened “folded bar” is designed to fit narrower spaces, which could make the format useful in cities where real estate is expensive. Starbucks has not published a floor-area figure for the prototype, so its size cannot be compared precisely with a standard café.
Dawn Clark, Starbucks’ senior vice president of global concepts and design, told CNN that the formats are meant to make the company more adaptable while retaining the coffeehouse experience. The stated aim is not simply to shrink the store, but to make that experience work across different footprints.
Do the smaller Starbucks locations still have seating and multiple ordering options?
Yes. The prototype retains seating, and the six smaller-format locations CNN reported open—including sites in San Antonio and Manhattan—support ordering in person, through the app, for delivery and at a drive-thru. Not every ordering channel necessarily applies to every site; the report describes the options across the locations.
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That approach differs from the pickup-only stores Starbucks closed in July 2025. CEO Brian Niccol called those stores “overly transactional.” Clark told CNN that customers have different needs and want to choose how they interact with the company. The newer format is intended not to confine customers to app pickup.
Why is Starbucks revisiting the coffeehouse experience?
The smaller-store test sits alongside a broader effort to restore comfortable places to sit. CNN reported that, before Niccol became CEO in 2024, Starbucks shifted many cafés toward app pickup, removing 30,000 comfortable seats, adding hard stools and blocking outlets. The report described sales challenges as having multiple contributors, including higher prices, longer pickup waits and food options; it does not attribute the problems to store design alone.
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In 2025, Starbucks announced a $1 billion restructuring effort that included North American renovations restoring comfortable seating, more outlets and free refills. CNN reported that 1,500 redesigned locations had been completed at the time of its October 6, 2026 article. Elsewhere in the same report, Clark referred to learning from 1,000 remodeled locations. Those are two different counts as reported in the story, not figures that can be reconciled from the information provided.
Where does the compact format fit into Starbucks’ plans?
The design may give Starbucks more flexibility to enter sites where a larger café is difficult to fit, particularly in major cities. CNN reported that the company had about 5,000 new locations planned for the coming years, but did not say how many would use the smaller format. It also reported that 30% of Starbucks customers use mobile ordering and that US same-store sales had turned positive in the most recent quarter; the article excerpt did not identify the quarter or provide a sales percentage.
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These figures describe a broader business context, not proof that smaller cafés improve sales or profitability. The CNN report did not provide store-level performance, construction costs or a direct financial comparison between the compact format and other Starbucks locations.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What customers should know
- Seating: The San Antonio prototype has comfortable seating; the format is not described as pickup-only.
- Ordering: Reported small-format locations offer several ways to order, though the available channels may vary by store.
- Location and size: Smaller-format sites were reported in San Antonio and Manhattan. Starbucks has not disclosed the San Antonio prototype’s square footage.
- Evidence of results: The design goals and store features have been reported, but no comparative cost, sales or customer-satisfaction results are available in the CNN account.
CNN’s report, published October 6, 2026 and accessed via Yahoo Finance, is the source for the store details and company figures above. The reported location and business counts are time-sensitive.
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