Starbucks Signing Store
Located near Gallaudet, Washington is home to Starbucks’s very own “signing store,” a coffee shop that fully embraces the Deaf and hard of hearing community. With its official launch in October 2018, Starbucks had set a new standard regarding cultural accommodation, following its first-ever release in Malaysia back in 2016.
With a diverse range of employees, the signing store offers a welcoming environment for individuals across the hearing spectrum. Low counters, bright colors, and large window-panes allow Deaf customers to openly sign and efficiently communicate with one another. Likewise, the coffee shop’s employees help out hearing customers by having customers order through a physical menu or a digital tablet; shoppers can choose to order with or without signing at all. Additionally, the Starbucks Signing Store is purposefully located in Washington DC, a historically deaf area with over 20,000 individuals with hearing impediments, as well as being blocks away from Gallaudet University, an institute dedicated to education of the deaf and hard of hearing.
With almost 7 years passing since its initial release, Starbucks’ Signing Store still remains as a monument for Deaf culture in mainstream media, as well as an important cultural accommodation that is notably lacking everywhere else around the world. This summer, co-writer Tilly Urieff documented her own experiences ordering coffee while visiting Gallaudet in DC. Tilly