The coffee shop chain and other consumer giants like McDonald's and 7-Eleven have transformed their US outlets by selling tech gadgets and CDs and offering low-cost DVD rentals
Technically, it's still a coffee house, but on certain evenings, when the place fills up with young adults gathered around computer screens, this Starbucks outlet becomes more like a scene from a futuristic bar in a science-fiction movie.
Groups of girls sip lattes as they pass around headphones at listening stations stocked with 150,000 digital songs.
Sweethearts sit knee-to-knee on stools picking out their favourite tunes to burn on a CD.
Waiting staff on the other side of the counter stand ready to mix another caffeinated drink or offer advice on the newest band.
"The overall strategy is to build Starbucks into a destination," says Kenneth Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment, a division of Seattle-based Starbucks.
Starbucks is among a growing number of non-technology companies that are out to transform the way Americans consume technology.
Customers of McDonald's restaurants can now pick up a DVD rental along with their Big Macs and fries at a growing number of locations.
The fast food chain is also testing a kiosk at its flagship store in Oak Brook, Illinois, that allows customers to download ringtones for their mobiles and print high-quality digital photos from their cameras.
Grocery chains such as Safeway, Albertson's and Stop & Shop are rolling out DVD rental machines.
Gap, Eddie Bauer, Lane Bryant and Restoration Hardware are selling CD mixes with company-branded packages and 7-Eleven stores are stocking a line of prepaid mobiles.
Tech gadgets are even more popular giveaways. This summer, financial services companies like Citibank have promised iPods to customers who sign up for an account with a certain balance.
Buying technology once meant having to trek to a speciality electronics store, but as the prices of laser disks and computer chips have plummeted and as gadgets have simplified, other types of outlets have begun to sell technology and entertainment offerings, turning sophisticated items into commodities like milk and eggs.
Josh Bernoff, a technology analyst with Forrester Research, said the idea of stopping by a retail food chain or other type of store to pick up technology appeals to a modern culture that's obsessed with speed and efficiency.
"It's about instant gratification," Bernoff said.
In some cases, retailers set out to target the last untapped high-tech market: technology laggards, people who might be somewhat intrigued by new-fangled gadgets but who haven't set aside the time and money to seek them out.
An estimated 32 per cent of Americans do not own mobiles, according to a 2004 survey by the Pew Research Center.
According to a 2003 US Census Bureau estimate, 38 per cent of US citizens do not own computers.
The surprise, retailers say, is that many of the customers who take advantage of the stores' new high-tech offerings don't fit the mould. These buyers are sophisticated about technology and looking for more seamless ways to integrate it into their everyday lives.
Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman for 7-Eleven, said the chain thought the main buyers of its Speak Out phones would be people having trouble getting an account with a major carrier because of credit problems.
The cheapest is $29.99 (€24.40) and there is a flat rate of 20 cent a minute at any time. Another allure is anonymity: there's no need to sign up or get credit approval. But the chain has noticed that many wealthier, tech-savvy clients have been buying the phones to give to their children or elderly parents or as a back-up for emergencies.
"You buy it at the counter, take it out of the box, and you can be talking to whomever you want in the parking lot. There's no having to sign up. That appeals to everyone," Chabris said.
Although the company won't release specific numbers, it said the mobiles are among its top-selling items.
In February, 7-Eleven began rolling out the phones in more than 4,400 stores in 43 metropolitan areas.
McDonald's experimented with DVD rentals in 2003 when it put 14 vending machines in some parking lots in the Washington area.
This summer, McDonald's began testing the movie rental service in five metropolitan areas. The rentals cost $1 per night plus tax.
Starbucks has considered music a companion to its coffee since the company's first store opened in 1971.
The Santa Monica store was set up two years ago as an experimental cafe, and the company considers it such a success that it has begun to deploy "media bars" in other locations.
The cafes, mostly in Seattle and Austin, Texas, feature computer screens where people can sample tunes and make CDs.
The chain also has been selling previously unreleased music such as Bob Dylan's Live at the Gaslight and Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill Acoustic.
While response to the new Starbucks music stations has been tepid in some stores, the company has done spectacularly with CD sales.
At a time when music industry sales are falling, a phenomenon that some companies have blamed on the popularity of free internet file-swapping services, Starbucks has managed to get customers to pay full retail price for its CDs.
Starbucks sold about 775,000 copies of Ray Charles's duets album, Genius Loves Company, 115,000 units of Coldplay's X&Y and 107,000 of Dave Matthews Band's Stand Up.
Lombard said that the company's goal is to connect with disenfranchised music lovers who want to discover tunes beyond the Top 40. "It's not about driving coffee sales," he said.
"It's about providing the music consumer with new ways to acquire and discover music.
"This is a transformational opportunity."
