Students stood in a line, breathing in the smell of fresh-brewed coffee as they waited to experience their first taste from the new Starbucks on Kent State campus.

The new store, located on the Esplanade, opened Monday and received an influx of students.

“On Monday, the first day open, our store brought in $6,500 worth of sales,” said Starbucks shift leader Alina Reid.

Sophomore fashion merchandising major Hannah Zeidenstein looks forward to the new location being her new place to hang out, study and meet with her friends. Along with that, she’s also impressed by the quick response time to receive her beverage.

“I was surprised to see how fast the line moved yesterday,” Zeidenstein said. “After I ordered my green tea latte, I only had to wait a few minutes.”

Students could not contain their enthusiasm and were eager to check out the new fully licensed Starbucks. 

“I’m so excited about the opening,” said freshmen internal relations major Rose Beechboard.

Beechboard lives in Johnson Hall, located across the way from the Business Administration building. Beechboard looks forward to utilizing the new Starbucks next semester.

“I am planning to live in (Johnson Hall) next year, so this location is just seconds away from my room,” Beechboard said. “It will really come in handy for my 7:45 a.m. classes next semester.”

“I was happy to see that this is a fully licensed Starbucks, that offers way more beverage and food options than Bean Scene at Olson,” said freshmen medical lab technology major Carolyn Wiersma. “I really think students will appreciate the variety and the amount of menu items this Starbucks has in comparison to Olson.”

Wiersma, among other students were surprised to find out that they had a number of options to choose from when deciding what they wanted to order.

“My fellow shift leaders and store manager are aware that this will most likely be a very high traffic location, so we are focusing on training all staff members to be very efficient, so we ensure a short wait time for all students and faculty,” Reid said.

“The baristas were all very nice and welcoming, and I am looking forward to stopping in again before the end of this week,” Zeidenstein said.

The baristas anticipate seeing more students and plan on staying busy this next month.

“We served over 1,000 customers yesterday, and we are expecting to stay that busy throughout the next few weeks of the semester and especially into finals week,” Reid said. 

Moira Reed is the construction reporter. Contact her at [email protected].