LETTER: A longtime Starbucks shuts its doors in Summerlin
Starbucks at Summerlin’s Trails Village Center in Las Vegas, Sunday, June 11, 2023. After operating for 25 years, the store closes today. (Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @rookie__rae
The recent closing of the Starbucks located in Summerlin Village Center is symptomatic of a more fundamental societal change.
Starbucks’ phenomenal early growth was based on the “third place” concept. Your home is your first place, and your work site is second. Starbucks was a destination to which you were invited to spend your social or non-office time during the day, enjoy a cup of coffee, chat with your friends or go online.
Now, perhaps in part due to COVID, the ongoing, socially isolating shift to mobile apps and drive-through windows has made Starbucks stores such as in Village Center obsolete.
