Starbucks is planning to close an existing location to build the area’s first two-lane drive-thru in Avondale, located at 10655 W. Indian School Rd.
The new Starbucks will be located in the former home of KFC at 107th Avenue and Indian School Road near Loop 101, according to Restaurant News. The Seattle-based company will relocate from an adjacent, undersized store into a larger, 3,070-square-foot location. The building has been vacant for four years and has no exact opening date. When the new double-lane drive-thru opens, it will help expedite customers for a faster coffee experience with two order points.
“This new location gave Starbucks the store size it required, but could only stack three or four vehicles in its single drive-through lane – far below what was needed to manage the anticipated traffic at this site,” Western Retail Advisors Senior Vice President Bryan Babits, the brokerage firm handling the lease, said in a press release. “Creating a double drive-through is a great example of Starbucks’ creativity, overcoming an operational challenge and already contributing to a 26 percent jump in sales at this new address.”
Starbucks anticipates reaching 45,000 stores by the end of 2025 with a mix of potential models. One of those models could include drive-through-only, underscoring the importance of drive-through activity to the chain’s overall success. Phoenix, at the start of the second quarter of 2023, had absorbed 4.1 million square feet of retail space year-over-year – the strongest absorption since the beginning of the Great Recession, according to CoStar.
“Phoenix’s retail demand is happening not only in traditional stores but also in the Quick Serve Restaurant category, making us one of the nation’s hottest locations for new and expanding concepts,” Western Retail Advisors Senior Vice President Bryan Ledbetter, who represents the landlord, said in a release. “Those trends are reflected clearly at this Starbucks store.”
