By Mary O’KEEFE

Starbucks announced last week that they plan to bring wine, beer and premium food offerings to a “handful of locations in Atlanta and Southern California by the end of this year. These stores, along with several others recently announced for the Chicago area, will be the first extensions of the evening day-part concept outside of the Pacific Northwest,” according to a statement from Starbucks release.

“We announced … this concept in Southern California but there was no details on the specific [locations],” said a Starbucks company spokesperson.

Starbucks has proposed opening a store in Montrose at the southeast corner of Honolulu Avenue and Ocean View Boulevard across from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. The company’s proposal is in the planning department in the city of Glendale.

“Since first introducing the evening day-part concept at its Olive Way location in Seattle in October 2010, Starbucks has seen success creating a new occasion for customers later in the day through an expanded food and beverage menu. Five stores in the Seattle area and one in Portland, Ore. currently serve wine, beer and premium food. Late last year, Starbucks announced plans to bring the concept to five to seven locations in the Chicago area by the end of 2012. Atlanta and Southern California will each see four to six stores, also by the end of the year,” stated a prepared statement by Starbuck.

The statement continued, “As part of an enhanced menu, these stores will serve new premium food (including savory snacks, small plates, and hot flatbreads) as well as wine and beer. The wine and beer list will be hand-selected to reflect local customer tastes and preferences, and will be refined over time. In addition to providing a product assortment not traditionally found at Starbucks, these stores will incorporate flexible seating to accommodate individuals and small groups as well as larger parties that want to host community meetings or other events such as book clubs.”

The company will conduct community outreach meetings before a decision of wine and beer location is made, the spokesman said.

  Mary Okeefe