After a year of COVID setbacks, coffee giant Starbucks had reason to celebrate this week as it opened a new store in Bayonne, NJ.
Located in the Harbor View Marketplace on a fast-developing stretch of the Bayonne waterfront, the coffee shop will soon be joined by LA Fitness, Lidl grocery, CVS Pharmacy, and Posh Nails & Beauty Lounge.
The brand-new shopping center at Military Ocean Terminal at 26 Goldsborough Drive, just off of Route 440, is delivering 240,000 s/f of retail space to the Bayonne Waterfront. It joins Costco Bayonne, a 157,000 s/f store and 18-pump Costco gas station that opened last March.
In addition to Harbor View Marketplace, JMF Properties, RD Management and Accurate Builders and Developers are developing a multifamily residential community on Military Ocean Terminal just steps from the new Starbucks.
Known as ScenicVue, the residential development will feature 651 luxury rental residences with upscale amenities, rooftop terraces, walking paths and views of the Bayonne Golf Club from many of the units.
A brand-new commuter ferry terminal, offering service to Manhattan, is under construction near the property and will offer future renters a convenient way to cross the Hudson River just steps from their front door.
Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis joined the developers and Starbucks representatives to celebrate the debut of Starbucks earlier this week.
“This is a perfect example of what can happen when the City and a developer work together toward a common goal,” said Joseph M. Forgione, Founder and Principal of JMF Properties.
“The City of Bayonne, under the leadership of Mayor Davis, has been instrumental in helping us deliver businesses like Costco and Starbucks to the community in a timely manner. Starbucks is an excellent fit for the retail mix we are curating here with our partner RD Management and we believe they will be very successful in this location.”
Richard Birdoff, principal and president of RD Management, added, “We, alongside JMF Properties, believe this live-work-play development will become a top-tier destination and fulfill the lifestyle needs of the Bayonne community.”
Starbucks saw their global sales fall over 50 percent as the coronavirus shut down cities across the world.
In a third quarter report, CEO Kevin Johnson said, with most stores re-opened, the company was “steadily recovering.”
“We firmly believe that we are well positioned to regain the positive business momentum we had before the pandemic began and look forward to reigniting our ‘Growth at Scale’ agenda,” said Johnson.
As part of its post-COVID program, Starbucks is expected to ramp up its Mobile Order and Pay, which reached a record 22 percent of transactions in Q3. Delivery usage also tripled in Q3 from the prior quarter and, Starbucks has begun rolling out curbside pickup with positive early results.
There are plans for up to 1,000 Curbside locations and 50 new Starbucks PickUp locations.
Johnson added, “In response to clear shifts in consumer behavior and preferences, we are now accelerating strategic initiatives for the future and positioning Starbucks for continued long-term growth. We have moved aggressively to advance our evolution of the store base to accommodate trends that we have long seen emerging in our business that were only exacerbated by COVID-19.”
PICTURE TOP L-R: Starbucks District Manager Kevin Damon, Starbucks employee Alexa Mark, Starbucks employee Febrera Garcia, Bayonne Third Ward Council Member Gary LaPelusa, Starbucks Store Manager Chris Paone, Bayonne Council Member At-Large Juan Perez, Hudson County Freeholder Kenny Kopacz, Kelsey Kopacz, JMF Properties Founder and Principal Joseph M. Forgione, Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis, Bayonne City Council President Sharon Ashe-Nadrowski, and BCB Community Bank Vice President of Marketing Pam Sclafane.
