Starbucks Opens – Stratford’s North End Near Merritt Parkway, Sikorsky – CT Post

STRATFORD — Starbucks has launched its second Stratford location in the town’s north end, more than two years after officials approved the construction of the coffee shop.
The Seattle-based chain opened the 2,500-square-foot store on Friday. The building is located at 6570 Main Street and sits directly across the road from the Merritt Parkway’s exit 53.
The store joins the company’s only other existing location in town, which is located at a shopping center on Barnum Avenue. But the newly opened coffee shop is the first to feature a drive-thru.
The developers behind the store have said they hoped Starbucks would serve as an anchor tenant that attracts other retail businesses and restaurants to the riverside site — a six-acre property known as “Parkway Plaza” that is owned by the Sbriglio family.
The ambitious vision for the largely undeveloped property includes a possible 4,000-square-foot restaurant, a 14,800-square-foot retail and office building and a three-story, 105-room hotel, according to plans previously submitted to the town.
The Zoning Commission unanimously approved a proposal to build the coffee shop in early 2021. At the time, however, Starbucks had not yet entered into an agreement with the owners to open a store at the site.
During the commission’s deliberations, Robert Rosati, an attorney for the Sbriglios, told the commission the store will eventually attract a “nationally known” coffee chain, an assertion that later proved to be correct.
Rosati is currently seeking approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals to install a 10-foot sign to attract customers to the Starbucks and the future development. The current rules bar free-standing directory signs taller than eight feet.
In an application filed with the town, Rosati claimed a smaller sign could lead to traffic safety concerns on Main Street and that a larger one would be more visible to people passing by the store.
“The frontage of the property is over 245 feet, so the proposed sign is well in proportion to the size and width of the property,” he wrote in the application.
The store’s opening comes as construction is underway on a third Starbucks location and the second with a drive-thru. The 2,300-square-foot store is being built at 1220 Linden Avenue, which is adjacent the exit 32 ramp from Interstate 95.
The coffee shop is also the second location the chain has opened in the region in the last few weeks. In midAugust, the company opened a store at 149 Mountain Grove Street in Bridgeport, marking the third location in the state’s largest city.
For the quarter ending July 2, Starbucks had 17,592 stores in North America, up three percent from the same period in 2022. North American revenues increased 11 percent year-over-year, to $6.74 billion, while comparable store sales in the region grew seven percent.
Staff Writers Ethan Fry and Paul Schott contributed to this report.