Starbucks (SBUX) “Evenings” is the company’s new effort to sell beer and wine at its locations.
Starting this week, Starbucks will start selling beer and wine at 24 new locations in the United States. This will bring the number of SBUX stores that sell alcohol in the U.S. Above 70. It has also submitted liqueur licenses for a few hundred locations, reports USA Today.
Starbucks is hoping that selling beer and wine in the evenings will help bring more traffic to its stores during times where it sees little. The company says that stores that sell alcohol still remain quiet enough for its normal patrons. It hopes to make $1 billion a year in alcohol sales by 2019, USA Today notes.
It makes sense that Starbucks would move toward selling different types of beverages later in the day. While it does deal in food, the company still remains mainly a beverage seller, with 73% of its revenue coming from drinks. It also has many locations in urban areas, which could make them perfect for gatherings late in the day, reports Fortune.
SBUX shares were up slightly as of Monday afternoon.
