Starbucks opens new kind of store at revitalized mall in Dallas

A new Starbucks opening is always news, but this new Starbucks is next-level: The coffee chain will open a community store in Dallas, at the Red Bird Mall at 3620 W. Camp Wisdom Rd.

The store is part of "Reimagine RedBird," an initiative to revitalize the once-declining mall located in Oak Cliff at the intersection of I-20 and Route 67. According to a release, it'll open on November 30.

The new store is Starbucks' first Community Store in Texas and the 12th nationwide. It's part of a special Starbucks initiative to create job and support youth and economic development in diverse, underserved areas of the country.

The new location will include a team of 24 Starbucks partners (employees), all of whom are from Dallas and Oak Cliff, making the store for the community, by the community.

As with each of its Community Stores around the country, Starbucks worked with a minority-owned contractor, 3i Contracting, to build the store.

In addition, the company commissioned custom murals for the space by Dallas artist group Sour Grapes, adding a visual element of the community love and unique flavor.

Nationally, 1 in 6 young people are disconnected from the economy, a challenge that is exponentially worse in low-income communities. In Dallas, an estimated 104,000 youths from 16 to 24 years old are disconnected from work and school.

Starbucks plans to work with local community groups and civic leaders to provide opportunity for its local partners through training and development, career options, and benefits that include comprehensive health-care, full tuition coverage for an online bachelor’s degree through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, and stock in the company for eligible partners who work 20 hours a week or more.

Through a grant from the Starbucks Foundation, local non-profit organization, Generation will use the in-store training space to support and train more than 200 youth over the next two years, addressing youth unemployment and the skills gap by pioneering a new way to prepare young people for jobs.

"Starbucks believes in investing in the communities it serves, and we are so proud and excited to be part of ‘Reimagined RedBird,’" says Traci York, regional vice president for South Central Operations for Starbucks. "Our store partners are eager to demonstrate a successful business model that represents all of the opportunity that exists here. This store was built by and for this community, and we are excited to become the local hub for coffee, connection and community."

Since announcing the Community Store initiative in 2015, Starbucks has opened 11 similar locations in cities that include Ferguson, Missouri; Englewood in Chicago's Southside; East Baltimore; Miami Gardens; Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn New York, White Center in Seattle, and Birmingham, Alabama.

These stores have helped create more than 300 local jobs and connect more than thousands of youth to education and employment opportunities thanks to the local in-store training programs.

The company plans to open similar stores in New Orleans and near Atlanta in the coming months, with more in the pipeline for the years ahead.

The Community Store model helps Starbucks work toward its goal of hiring 100,000 opportunity youth by 2020. In 2015, Starbucks committed to hiring 10,000 Opportunity Youth by 2018. In March 2017, Starbucks expanded the goal to hire 100,000 Opportunity Youth by 2020; as of March 2018, Starbucks announced it was halfway to the goal with more than 50,000 hires.