Starbucks to try new store sizes

Starbucks plans to roll out several new store formats, including bite-sized “express” stores plus more than 100 boutiques dedicated to the highbrow Reserve brand of small-pot coffees.

The coffee giant also said a Reserve roastery and tasting room in Seattle, where it will shift all roasting for small-batch coffee, will open in December.

The 15,000-square-foot cafe and roasting facility, which Starbucks says will help bring the elite Reserve coffee to nearly twice the number of locations now served, had been expected to open in the fall.

The moves come as Starbucks tests ways to keep its promises of ambitious growth, even in the U.S., its most developed market.

It’s doing so by offering more items and trying to draw in customers not only in the morning, but in the afternoon and evening as well.

Investors in July showed concern Starbucks might lose momentum after Chief Financial Officer Scott Maw warned that the earnings forecast for the next fiscal year may be toward the lower end of the range stated by the company.

The reason, Maw said, is Starbucks could lose the “tail wind” provided by relatively cheap green coffee and dairy in recent years. Shares fell 2 percent the day after the announcement, dropping from a 2014 peak of $80.45. On Friday, shares closed at $77.95.

The Seattle roastery will showcase Starbucks’ priciest beans, which often sell out quickly online and are in about 800 stores worldwide. The facility will also enable the company to roast more of it, under the eyes of customers.

“Everything we have created and learned about coffee has led us to this moment,” CEO Howard Schultz said in a statement.

Starbucks also will open over the next five years “at least” 100 locations where it will highlight the Reserve brand. The stores will have a design different from standard Starbucks stores, a company spokeswoman said.

Starbucks also will introduce smaller stores focused on commuters and other busy customers. They will have limited beverage and food offerings and fewer employees than usual and come in the wake of the success of Starbucks drive-thrus.