One drink per location, for an epic journey.
In terms of purchasing malls in Japan, it’s arduous to beat Aeon Lake City by way of dimension, because it comprises greater than 700 outlets and eating places in three giant complexes that cowl an expanse of 224,000 sq. metres (2.4 million sq. ft).
Situated in Koshigaya, in Tokyo’s neighbouring prefecture of Saitama, this can be a mall you could spend a complete day in with out attending to see all the things it has to supply, which acquired us to pondering — how lengthy wouldn’t it take for us to go to the entire mall’s Starbucks branches?
▼ The mall has a complete of seven branches, pictured under.
As you possibly can see, they’re fairly unfold out, so this wasn’t going to be a simple process, however it was a problem we had been eager to finish. We started our journey on the first department, positioned on the high of the escalator, instantly after exiting the station.
▼ The clock begins right here at 3:22 p.m.
With this being a Sunday, the advanced was fairly busy, so we began the clock once we joined the queue, patiently ready in line till it was our flip to order.
Contemplating we had loads of consuming forward of us, our order right here was for a small-sized iced decaf Americano.
It took some time for the espresso to be made, however as soon as we had it, it was gone in seconds and it was time to move off to the following location.
The second department was, fortunately, surprisingly shut by, on the primary ground of the constructing subsequent door. Nonetheless, it could take us some time to order right here as the road stretched out into the mall.
Whereas we waited, we mused on how in style the chain should be, with lengthy traces at two branches so shut to one another, and when it got here time to order, we acquired the identical iced decaf Americano that we ordered on the earlier retailer.
▼ Once more, gone in seconds and time to maneuver on to the following location.
By this stage, half-hour had already elapsed on the timer, which meant our preliminary estimate of finishing the course in about an hour was already nicely off the mark.
Arriving on the third location, this one wasn’t too far-off both, and it was a Teavana outlet that specialises in tea-based drinks.
Once more, there was a line and a few ready concerned, and once we acquired to the counter, what did we order?
You guessed it — one other small-sized iced decaf Americano. We figured it was greatest to maintain the drinks the identical at every location, for the sake of uniformity.
The subsequent retailer was positioned within the outlet space, so we handed by means of a passageway to get there.
This department took some time to get to, however it turned out to be a beautiful one, with outside seating. Nonetheless, that meant it was fairly in style, so we needed to be part of one other queue for the registers but once more.
▼ One other Starbucks, one other Americano.
▼ This time we completed the drink in about 30 seconds, proving we had been enhancing our consuming expertise as we went.
Lastly, we had been previous the midway mark, and now it was time to maneuver to the third advanced, the place the ultimate three shops had been positioned.
The subsequent department additionally had a beautiful outside setting, and out of all of the shops it was the one most coated in leafy inexperienced vegetation.
Regardless of the tranquil setting, it turned out to be the least busy retailer, with solely about 5 individuals in line, so we didn’t have to attend lengthy to order and down our Americano.
For the penultimate department, we headed again contained in the constructing, the place we had been greeted by one other lengthy line of shoppers.
By this stage, we had been getting a little bit uninterested in consuming the identical factor again and again, however it was thirsty work so we had been grateful for the liquid refreshment.
On the ultimate retailer, we resisted the urge to descend to our knees in entrance of it and yell out a hoot in triumph.
▼ It was a beautiful-looking retailer, however sadly it’ll quickly be closing quickly for renovations.
▼ One ultimate cheers to the ultimate location!
Upon throwing the empty cup into the trash, it was now time to test the outcomes.
In accordance with the info on this ultimate picture, the time was…5:13 p.m!
That meant this epic journey of ordering and consuming espresso in any respect seven Starbucks areas took us 111 minutes, or simply shy of two hours. Surprisingly, we additionally seen that the time between ordering at one retailer and ordering on the subsequent took about quarter-hour every time. Whether or not or not this was deliberately thought-out by the chain when organising their areas inside the mall, it’s truly a intelligent configuration, as you’re by no means too far-off from a Starbucks, the place you possibly can re-energise between purchasing at your favorite shops.
It was an fulfilling journey, and one we wouldn’t thoughts attempting once more subsequent time we go to LakeTown…though then we’ll be ordering one thing apart from an iced Americano.
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