​​A new drive-thru Starbucks location will be opening next summer in Brookings. Located at 1402 6th Street, it will be the third Starbucks in Brookings in addition to the SDSU campus and Hy-Vee locations. 

Unlike the two current locations, it will feature a drive-thru and will be the first corporate-owned Starbucks in Brookings. 

“Starbucks is always looking for great locations to better meet the needs of our customers,” a Starbucks spokesperson said.

Dallas Lyple, a barista at the Brookings Hy-Vee Starbucks location, explained the difference between a corporate-owned Starbucks and a licensed Starbucks—such as the one at Hy-Vee or on the SDSU campus. 

“Licensed Starbucks follow (Hy-Vee) store dress code, get store pay and get Hy-Vee employee benefits … we don’t work for corporate,” she said.

According to Lyple, a licensed Starbucks location features the same product that a corporate Starbucks does. Licensed Starbucks also buys products from the same supplier that a corporate-owned Starbucks does.

“We have the same Java chips, coffee and milk that a corporate Starbucks has,” Lyple said. 

Since it’s only a five-minute drive from the SDSU campus, students are excited for the addition of a new coffee shop with a drive-thru in town. 

“It’s really exciting to have a drive-thru. It’s close to campus … sometimes there are long lines at the Starbucks on campus. It will be convenient when I’m not on campus,” sophomore Katie Noteboom said. 

Tess Burton, a representative of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), a non-profit that speaks for coffee professionals, shared a study that the SCA collaborated on with the National Coffee Association (NCA) about the coffee habits of Americans.

According to the study, which was done in January 2021, 36% of Americans over the age of 18 had drank a specialty coffee the day before the study took place. 

The SCA defines specialty coffee as “any espresso-based beverage” or “non-espresso based beverage” that includes lattes, cappuccinos, frozen blends and cold brew. 

An even more striking finding is that 62% of Americans drink coffee everyday, with the average American coffee drinker drinking over three cups per day, according to a March 2020 press release from the NCA. 

According to the Brookings Community Development Office, the new Starbucks is being built by a local general contracting company, Drew Clark Construction, which also verified the construction of the new Starbucks.

Construction is currently in the demolition stage, which started June 16. According to the City of Brookings 2021 building permit records, each of the two demolitions cost $30,000.

The records listed the property owner as VK Properties LLC. 

Several local coffee shops were reached out to for comment on the effects of the new Starbucks drive-thru location on business, including Choco Latte, a drive-thru coffee shop in Brookings. Choco Latte’s owner, Donna Behrend, had no comment. Cottonwood Cafe, located in Brookings, did not respond to the request for comment by the time of this article publishing.