MILAN: Starbucks is opening its first store in Italy, betting that premium brews and novelties like a heated marble-topped coffee bar will win customers in a country fond of its daily espresso rituals.
Decades ago, Milan’s coffee bars inspired the chain’s vision. Now Starbucks is hoping clients will visit its new store, called the Reserve Roastery, to watch beans being roasted, sip coffee or enjoy cocktails at a mezzanine-level bar in a cavernous, former post office near the city’s Duomo, or cathedral.
Starbucks chief design officer Liz Muller told said earlier this week that the company’s “not coming to Italy to teach people about coffee. This is where coffee was born.”
Instead, Muller said, Starbucks “wanted to come and bring a premium experience that is different to what people in Italy are used to.”
She described that formula as including “many different brewing techniques and a space where we want you to stay longer and relax and enjoy.”
In Italy, an espresso at a coffee bar is usually a quick morning or after-lunch ritual performed standing up. In many neighborhoods, cafes are practically on every corner, and Italians are on a first-name basis with their trusted barista.
Italy is Starbucks’ 78th global market, and the Milan opening comes 20 years after Starbucks opened its first store in Europe, in London. The company has described the Milan store as “the crown jewel of Starbucks global retail footprint.” It says it plans more cafes for Milan later this year.
Milan is the first place where Starbucks has opened a store in its Roastery format in untested territory. It opened a Roastery in Seattle, the US city that is home to its corporate headquarters, in 2014, and a second one in Shanghai last year.
Italians are used to marble counters for coffee bars, but Starbucks boasts that it outfitted its counter tops in the Milan store with heating so they won’t feel stone cold on chill days. The centerpiece of the Milan store is a 6.5-meter (22-foot) high bronze cask, part of the roasting process.
The company also hopes the store’s cocktail bar will be an attraction: Many who work in Milan, Italy’s fashion and financial capital, cherish the tradition of meeting friends or colleagues for an “aperitivo,” or pre-dinner cocktail, often in cafes.
Starbucks debuts in Italy with premium brews, novelty bar
Starbucks debuts in Italy with premium brews, novelty bar
- Decades ago, Milan’s coffee bars inspired the chain’s vision
- Now Starbucks is hoping clients will visit its new store, called the Reserve Roastery
Closing Bell: Saudi main index slips to close at 10,588
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index slipped on Sunday, losing 127.15 points, or 1.19 percent, to close at 10,588.83.
The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR2.57 billion ($685 million), as 28 of the stocks advanced and 232 retreated.
Similarly, the Kingdom’s parallel market Nomu lost 108.53 points, or 0.46 percent, to close at 23,719.13. This comes as 22 of the stocks advanced while 47 retreated.
The MSCI Tadawul Index lost 17.17 points, or 1.22 percent, to close at 1,393.34.
The best-performing stock of the day was Sport Clubs Co., whose share price surged 3.69 percent to SR9.00.
Other top performers included Flynas Co., whose share price rose 2.55 percent to SR72.30, as well as National Industrialization Co., whose share price surged 2.13 percent to SR10.09.
Consolidated Grunenfelder Saady Holding Co. recorded the most significant drop, falling 6.61 percent to SR8.90.
Sustained Infrastructure Holding Co. also saw its stock prices fall 5.75 percent to SR30.82.
CHUBB Arabia Cooperative Insurance Co. also saw its stock prices decline 5.72 percent to SR22.40.
On the announcements front, Wataniya Insurance Co. said it has received a notice of award for a one-year contract with Saudi National Bank to provide general insurance as well as protection and savings insurance services, in line with agreed terms and conditions.
According to a Tadawul statement, coverage will begin on Jan. 1, 2026. The contract value exceeds 15 percent of the company’s total revenues, based on its latest audited financial statements for 2024.
Wataniya Insurance Co. ended the session at SR14.35, up 1.92 percent.
Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Co., or Cenomi Retail, has announced executing a SR1.5 billion facility agreement structured as a short-term loan with Emirates NBD – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A bourse filing revealed that the financing duration is three years with an option to extend for a total of two years.
Cenomi Retail ended the session at SR20.00, up 0.26 percent.
First Milling Co. has announced the Board of Directors’ recommendation to amend the firm’s bylaws Article “Company Management” to increase the number of board members from seven to eight. This change reflects the firm’s commitment to broadening the range of expertise and skills on its board, in line with its growth and expansion plans for the next phase.
The company reiterated its commitment to fulfilling all necessary procedures and obtaining approvals from the relevant authorities. The recommendation will be submitted to the upcoming General Assembly, with the date to be announced in due course.
First Milling Co. ended the session at SR49.22, down 1.06 percent.
