Starbucks Guwahati – An American Experience?

Guwahati finally got its first Starbucks outlet on 5th January, 2022. It’s located in G. S. Road, right beside Westside. One can locate it with the help of the huge signboard but this has not been updated yet in Google maps.
Let’s start with what Starbucks is. Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world’s largest coffeehouse chain. It is so successful because it was able to provide an experience that changed how much of the world thought about coffee shops and how many of us drink coffee outside of our homes.

Starbucks-Guwahati has managed to attract such a crowd since it’s opening, that the most hyped place of Guwahati i.e., “City Centre”, seems to be deserted from the past week. People have been waiting in such long queues, only to pay and get that one sip of “American Dream”. Of course, I being one such dreamer, did the same, even though I’ve been to Starbucks before in Bangalore, Delhi and Pune, but have not witnessed this scene anywhere other than Hollywood movies.

While waiting in the queue, we thought of placing the order through the Starbucks App but we were informed by their staff that this outlet is not yet accepting online orders. Well, that’s a drawback as they’ve been attracting a huge crowd everyday and a pandemic is also going on, here the online ordering procedure could actually have made things easier. It was also mentioned by one of the staff members that soon there will be a second Starbucks outlet in some mall but they did not specify in which mall. This conversation made my waiting in the queue informative.

After waiting for 15 minutes, we got in and after 5 more minutes, our chance to place the order occurred. We got a classic hot chocolate and smoked hazelnut latte. As soon as we started ordering, the barista wrote down the details of the drink along with our name. When we were done paying, we heard our names being called out from the other end of the counter which meant that our drinks were finally ready. Our names were written correctly and were also pronounced correctly, unlike many claims that the Barista can never get your name right, which obviously let us down as it was not like the authentic American Starbucks experience.

Other than that, the place was very well decorated and hygienic. One thing that I noticed and still think that could have been improvised is that there’s very little parking space which only made me question why they did not open a drive-thru? That would have made things work so efficiently, given the location, which is one of the busiest spots of Guwahati and the crowd they’re attracting are mostly car or bike owners. I think it’s high time that we should get a drive-thru which will save a lot of time and will also add on to another American experience.

The next thought that hit me was when one of my friends asked me, “Is this Starbucks experience worth it?” Well, who doesn’t like coffee, right? But an overpriced coffee which requires waiting in long queues just to taste like any other average coffee, is totally not worth it. But again, hey, what is actually worth it? We live in a capitalist world where we do have a “herd mentality” which means we like to do what is done by others because it is trendy, fancy and of course a “lifestyle”. So, yes, it is worth a try and again, yes, we do have subjective opinions regarding personal experiences. So, do let me know how your experience was and whether you think it’s worth it or not.