Starbucks Coffee is a coffee shop franchise that is popular everywhere in the United States (and other parts of the world), and after recently closing, they’re reopening here in Aspen, Colorado. It is to be located in the mall by Wagner Park, at 401 East Cooper Avenue. The actual construction is over, and the shop opened on Monday, September 24th. The new shop serves their usual assortment of hot and cold drinks, as well as a myriad of breakfast foods and other treats.

David Ellsweg is the part-time manager of the upcoming Starbucks. He has been in the management business for the last 20 years in Aspen.

“I’ll be the local presence in town just to make sure I can keep an eye on it and make sure it’ll run at the level that we want it to run,” Ellsweg said.

Starbucks is a unique corporation, and they run their business differently from most big restaurant franchises. There are privately-owned Starbucks shops, and there are corporate-owned shops.

“There are two ways of running a Starbucks: there are corporate-run stores where Starbucks comes in and opens a Starbucks, and then there are licensed stores. The majority of locations are corporate-owned stores,” Ellsweg said.

Eva Davis is the general manager of the Aspen Starbucks. She is looking forward to getting to work in a new Starbucks environment. They began their first week of barista training and used the money to donate.

“We raised close to a thousand dollars for the Aspen Fire Department last week during the practice shifts,” Davis said.

“We’re just finishing up training of the baristas, so everything is operational, everything is checked out, and we are good to go,” Ellsweg said.

The return of Starbucks is appealing to Aspen locals and tourists, and everyone seems to be excited to get their Pumpkin Spice Latte or Strawberry Frappuccino. The store will be open all day, from 6 am to 9 pm, so be ready to have coffee all day, every day.