Is Starbucks Taking the 'Luckin' Route?! Opening a Store in the Most Unexpected Place!!!

Starbucks Opens Where No One Expected: Inside a Seoul Subway Station

Coffee has become both a daily essential and a kind of social currency. You've probably noticed how cafés cluster at residential street corners and at the base of office towers — yet they're strangely rare near the transportation hubs modern city dwellers rely on most. Recently, Starbucks Korea changed that: the global chain giant has opened a branch inside a subway station.

According to South Korean media Pulse News, Starbucks Korea, part of the Shinsegae Group, opened the branch at Gangnam Station — one of the busiest and most complex stations in the country's urban rail network. The station sees an average daily flow of up to 100,000 passengers, and there are already as many as 19 Starbucks stores within a 500-meter radius.

This store is unlike the typical one. Traditional Starbucks locations, sited in spacious spots, are famous for their comfortable "third space." This new store, in the heart of Seoul's busiest district, aims instead to capture more consumer segments and serve commuters fast during the morning rush. Starbucks Korea says the underground location is part of its expansion strategy for the Korean market.

Seoul subway staff told media that while Seoul Metro doesn't ban eating in train cars, due to COVID-19 it recommends passengers avoid eating in the cars and keep masks on properly. Notably, the South Korean government has lifted the outdoor mask mandate, but indoor and enclosed spaces still require masks.

Only the Second Subway Starbucks

In fact, this is just the second Starbucks anywhere operating inside a subway station. The other is at Canary Wharf Station in London, UK. That "express café" concept features minimal seating, a compact footprint, and — crucially — a significantly simplified menu with only the basics. Every simplification serves one goal: a faster, easier experience for grab-and-go customers.

As modern life speeds up, consumers working in city centers are mostly time-pressed white-collar workers — a group with high annual coffee consumption and strong purchasing power that Starbucks is now targeting directly.

Starbucks' Korean Success Story

Starbucks entered Korea in 1999 and now runs 1,674 stores there. Sales reached 602.1 billion won (about $475.8 million) in the first quarter of 2022, up 15% year-on-year. Since last July, the Korean retailer Emart has been Starbucks Korea's largest shareholder, holding 67.5% of its shares.

Image source: Internet

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