03-03-2025
Tuscaloosa area to get three new Starbucks coffee shops this year
The near-ubiquitous Starbucks logo will glow soon over three new locations in the area, adding to the handful already found in Tuscaloosa, and on the University of Alabama campus.
The first Starbucks in Northport is being built ground-up, on land between Lurleen Wallace and 20th Avenue, and will be a drive-through location. The other new drive-through will be at 405 15th St., in what used to be T-Town Tire. That involves demolishing the old building and getting the new framework ready for Starbucks to outfit.
The third will be a full-sized Starbucks, with patio and cafe. That's going up near Lake Tuscaloosa, on Rice Mine Road, not far from the shopping center anchored by a Publix.
"We bought a lot from Emmanuel Baptist Church," said Will Roark, a partner in RJ Development of Montgomery, which is working on the sites. "It used to be their old rec center, right at the entrance."
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Seattle-based Starbucks is the world's largest coffeehouse chain, following a period of aggressive expansion begun decades after its 1971 founding. Figures from 2024 indicate there are more than 40,000 worldwide, built on every continent except Antarctica. The U.S. has the most, with about 16,000.
Starbucks is credited with leading the "second wave of coffee culture," focused more on quality of roasts and cafe experiences, unlike the first wave, which centered around mass-marketed grocery store brands.
Seattle's maritime history helped anchor the brand. The founders chose the name after the character from "Moby Dick," while searching for a monniker beginning with "St," as one business partner thought words beginning with those letters seemed powerful. They began compiling a list, and had picked "Starbo," a mining town in the Cascade Range, until the homonym reminded them of the chief mate on Captain Ahab's Pequod.
The logo image — originally a full-bodied, twin-tailed mermaid — conflates with sirens of Greek legend. Terry Heckler, the same partner who thought of the "st" thing, found the image, and its mysterious nature, alluring. Heckler once said she's 'the perfect metaphor for the siren song of coffee that lures us cupside.'
Starbucks locations sell hot and cold beverages, whole-bean coffee, micro-ground instant coffee, espressos, lattes, Frappuccino beverages, juices, full and loose-leaf teas, along with pastries, breakfast foods and other snacks, depending on the size of the location.
Tuscaloosa currently has a Starbucks at 807 Paul W. Bryant Drive, adjacent to the Supe Store at what was for many years the Corner Store, with another inside the Student Center, and one at 325 University Blvd. E. There are drive-through standalone locations on 816 Veterans Memorial Parkway/15th St. E., and at 804 Skyland Boulevard, with a walk-up Starbucks inside the Target Superstore, at 1901 13th Ave. E. Barnes and Noble in Midtown sells their products, but isn't a Starbucks cafe.
The three new spots should open by late summer or early fall, but that's up to the chain.
"It depends on Starbucks and their suppliers, if they can get materials in a timely fashion," Roark said. Once RJ Development has completed exterior prep, Starbucks' interior buildout can take from 90 to 150 days, he said. The 15th Street location got started first, so it may open by late summer. That had been a Phillips 66 gas station and a convenience store before becoming a used-tire store, for 26 years.
"All three of them were challenging sites," Roark said. "They're dynamic sites that should do well for them."
Starbucks doesn't just plop its businesses down anywhere, but studies demographics including projected growth, traffic rates, and how existing stores in the area are faring.
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'That gives them a good indication the market will serve at what they projected, or above," Roark said. "If there wasn't a need, we wouldn't have gotten this far."
Roark and one of his partners are University of Alabama grads, so they were already familiar with the area.
"When we first came to market, I drove by the (15th Street) store, and couldn't even get into the parking lot, it was so busy," Roark said.
What's coming should be relief stores, hoping to draw some of that congested traffic, and make it easier for someone from Northport, for example, who otherwise would have to drive miles before seeing a green Starbucks mermaid.
The newer 15th location is just a couple blocks from the University of Alabama campus, with its student population of nearly 40,000. Traffic count estimates on Lurleen Wallace indicate between 60,000 and 70,000 vehicles per day, Roark said, almost interstate traffic heavy. As the $68.9 million McWright's Ferry Road draws to an expected completion in the fall, that Starbucks should open up at a prime time, when traffic flow to and from areas north of the Black Warrior River is greatly eased.
When a store reaches capacity, and can't handle more, "It's actually a negative impact," Roark said. "Customers might try a second alternative, a competitor."
Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Three new Starbucks are coming to Tuscaloosa: When will they open?
