Starbucks will unveil a new store in Long Beach Friday

Long Beach

Midtown Long Beach is about to get a familiar new business. On Friday, Starbucks will unveil a new store in Long Beach designed to support economic development through local hiring, partnerships with local women- and minority owned businesses, and in-store job skills training programs for Long Beach youth. Using a unique classroom space built within the store, this Starbucks store hopes to not only support job training programs with a local nonprofit, but serve as a hub for conversation and community dialog.

Located at the corner of Long Beach Blvd & E Willow, this distinctive store model will be only the sixth of its kind nationally, and the only one like it in California. It is part of Starbucks national initiative to invest in at least 15 underserved communities across the U.S. by 2018. Only five other stores like it are open today in Ferguson, MO; Englewood in the Southside of Chicago; central Phoenix; Jamaica in Queens, New York; and East Baltimore. And as the program continues to expand, Starbucks is demonstrating that businesses can in fact thrive in underserved communities by creating opportunities for all.