Mermaid Tower

As if the Roastery weren’t sensational enough, Starbucks has opened another special place for your overpriced coffee pleasure: the Starbucks Reserve SoDo store. The décor and mood are very similar to the Roastery, but they don’t do any roasting there, so it doesn’t have the same Willy Wonka factory look. Still, there are plenty of interesting places to sit, people-sketch and indulge in coffee and pastries. I’m sure I’ll be sketching inside eventually.

As expected, it was a mob scene in there Saturday afternoon, so after taking a quick look around, I escaped back outside. The sky was clear, the sun was out (though chilly), and from my parking spot, I had a perfect view of the top of Starbucks’ corporate headquarters tower (the Reserve is on the ground floor). I’ve always wanted to sketch that mermaid.

A new place to buy overpriced coffee and pastries in exchange for excellent service
and a pleasant ambiance.