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New Starbucks Locations To Serve Beer, Wine

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Starbucks now wants to be your first stop on the way home from work for happy hour.

As WBBM Newsradio's David Roe reports, the Seattle-based coffee megachain says it wants to increase traffic in its stores in the evening hours.

So Starbucks will begin offering beer and wine in up to seven Chicago locations by the end of next year, the Chicago Tribune reports.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's David Roe reports

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The stores will also offer small plates of food such as cured meats to go with the beverages, the newspaper reports.

Starbucks has also experimented lately with live entertainment, such as music, poetry readings and theatre offerings, the newspaper reported.

The Tribune reports the stores serving beer and wine will be new locations, but the newspaper did not specify where they will be located.

Starbucks began serving beer and wine at a location on Capitol Hill in Seattle, which was remodeled in 2009, the Seattle Times reports. The company later began the offerings at two other Seattle locations and another store in the Seattle suburb of Issaquah, as well as a location in Portland, Ore., the Seattle Times reported.

The Seattle locations begin serving beer and wine at 2 p.m., and they have posted double-digit sales growth in the hours after 4 p.m., the Seattle Times reported.

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