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Brewing at Chicago Starbucks: Beer, Wine

Chicago-area stores to offer booze, entertainment

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 6, 2011 3:30 AM CST

(Newser) – There's still no chance of getting an Irish coffee in Starbucks, but beer and wine will soon be available in up to seven of the coffee chain's Chicago-area outlets. Following a model first introduced in Seattle and Portland, Starbucks aims to boost traffic in the evenings by offering beer and wine, as well as plate snacks like bread with olive oil and live music and poetry readings in some stores, the Chicago Tribune reports. The boozy new locations are set to open by the end of next year.

If things work out in Chicago, the concept may be introduced to Starbucks stores across the country. "It's something our customers have really been responding to," a Starbucks spokesman tells the Seattle Times. "They want to sit and relax, and maybe one person wants to have coffee and the other wants beer or wine. People also can go out after work without having to go to a bar, and people who are underage can go and have a cup of coffee instead."

Forget the frappuccino, give me a beer. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Nov. 2, 2009 file photo, a customer enters a Starbucks coffee shop in Arlington, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, file)

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Brewing at Chicago Starbucks: Beer, Wine

Chicago-area stores to offer booze, entertainment

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