starbucks – Shanghai Metal Corporation

AN ECO-FRIENDLY AND CREATIVE CONCEPT: STARBUCKS SHIPPING CONTAINER STORES

Who ever thought shipping container can turn into a cool coffee shop? Starbucks did it! Starbucks succeed to get attention with their innovative concept of drive-thru shipping container stores.

On December 13, 2011, the first Starbucks shipping container was built in Tukwila, Washington. This concept came out from Puget Sound, the busiest shipping port in Washington. When Starbucks design team were thinking about an eco-friendly store idea, they looked at the Puget Sound and found an idea to reuse shipping containers as a sustainable store.

Starbucks uses shipping container to deliver coffee, tea, and other materials all across the world, so it seems fitting that they decided to use shipping containers to build their stores. By using unused shipping containers, Starbucks help to reduce their waste because after 20-25 years of lifespan, it will become scrap. This new concept turns out to be the breakthrough for Starbucks popularity. Many customers give very good response about this Starbucks’ new store. It’s not only an innovative idea, but also environmental and economical friendly.

However, it’s a little hard for Starbucks to arrange the equipments in the 40-foot shipping container stores because it is not a big space and also they can’t modify the dimensions. They need to figure it out exactly where all the equipment needs to go, so the six employees in there don’t end up bumping into one another.

Starbuck’s design team using this shipping container stores as their eco-friendly store ideas. They expect to achieve LEED certification. This shipping container stores have met the LEED standards: water efficient irrigation, energy performance optimization, use of green power, construction waste management, recycled content, low-emitting materials, and overall innovation and design.

Today, Starbucks have built a few of shipping container stores all over US:

Tukwila, Washington, the first Starbucks’ shipping container store.
Denver, Colorado
Portland, Oregon
Salt Lake City, Utah, opened September 2014
Chicago
Ballard, Seattle, opened February 2, 2014

It’s not only Starbucks that used shipping containers to build their stores. There is also a few unique shipping container restaurants all over the world:

Smoky Park Supper Club, Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Till the Cows Come Home, Berlin, Germany

Ska Brewing’s World Headquarters & Tasting Room, Durango, Colorado, USA

Shipping containers are flexible for different uses. Look at Starbucks that succeed make a cool shipping container coffee shop. Some of unique restaurants also made from shipping container. These Starbucks stores and a few of shipping container restaurants are only a few example of the innovative idea of shipping containers.

Based in China, Shanghai Metal Corporation is one of the leading businesses in the manufacturing of metalworking industry. We can produce and export shipping containers and other metal products and service. We prioritize the efficient of manufacturing and environmental sustainability.

Want to know more about our company? Please visit our website and you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Feel free to download our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Source: Containerhomeplans, Inhabitat, Starbucksmelody

The Many Architectural Applications of Shipping Containers vol.7

Shipping containers are a perfect solution for setting up a pop-up restaurant or a mobile kiosk. As we already covered in our blog about container stores, they can be installed almost everywhere and are very likely to gather a lot of crowd. Some very well know companies have already set up a mobile restaurants and kiosks.

In 2010 Subway had a shipping container restaurant on top of the five story Freedom Tower in New York. Subway established the restaurant for the construction workers who would otherwise have needed 45 minutes to get down from the construction.

Shipping containers are also a form of sustainable building and offer an eco-friendly and a low-cost solution for starting restaurants. One of the world’s best coffee shops, Starbucks, has also used shipping containers and build such an eco-friendly drive-thru cafe in Seattle.

As a new business idea, shipping container restaurants are an ideal low-cost choice. During these hard times in the economy, people who have always wanted to start their own restaurants but do not have enough capital, seem to have found a solution.

Setting a container kiosk is a smaller scale but still a considerable business. Container kiosks are also used to implement CSR in developed countries. For instance Coca-Cola has taken this concept to Africa, Asia and Latin America by installing kiosks called Ekocenters that offer locally tailored mix of products, services and resources that also include sustainable energy, wireless communications, refrigerated vaccination storage, health education, and other functionality to jump-start entrepreneurship opportunities and community development.

If you are looking for containers to start or expand your business, we in Shanghai Metal Corporation can offer them. We have many kinds of containers with different door solutions. You can check our website for further details or send us a message through this form. Check also our social media platforms for new updates.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Company Press Release, Food and Beverage News, Designboom, 3BL Media, Expok News, Inthrald, Weburbanist, Urban Times,Inhabitat, Inhabitat, Westphoria

Continue to chapter 8.

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Shipping Container City – Shanghai Immigrant’s Homes

Soaring property values in China have some Chinese migrants finding alternative solutions. The so-called ‘shipping container city’ can be found on the outskirts of Shanghai. In 2001, officials tore down a similar container village in Pudong (Shanghai’s financial district), consisting of over 100 container homes, because it was “too dangerous”. This current stack of containers in Shanghai has been housing Chinese migrant workers for over a decade.

The origin of the unusual city comes down to a single 70-year-old man (known to the renters simply as “Old Man”) who bought the empty containers from a local customs official. Originally planning to use them for storage, he paid to have the containers stacked on the side of a road. He then snaked electrical and water lines through the stack to each container before deciding they would be better suited as homes for migrants.

This isn’t the first instance of container housing. As we’ve previously reported here , container houses could be the solution to affordable housing, and not just in China. The US has seen a number of container homes spring up of late. Companies have also noticed the advantages of container housing. For instance Starbucks has already installed its container coffee shops in Seattle and London.

Shanghai Metal manufactures shipping containers. We are the leading manufacturer and supplier in China. From the acquisition of raw materials, packaging and exportation, SMC ensures only the best quality of products. By assigning professional experts at every stage of production, we ensure continuous support in our worldwide business. To find out more, please visit our website, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

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Container Houses – The Next Big American Dream

The container housing industry is becoming mainstream as it is now a sub category of affordable housing. Building a home out of shipping containers enables also medium income consumers to hire an architect in a very reasonable price. Thereby, container homes might be the next American dream.

Companies have also noticed the advantages of container housing. For instance Starbucks has already installed its container coffee shops in Seattle and London. Container homes also come with a pretty nice design.

One of the benefits of shipping containers is their modularity. They are made as same sized and designed to be piled up and fit optimally in cargo ships. Containers are like Lego blocks. You can pile them up and thereby even create a multiple floor or a multiple wing mansion.

Shipping containers are also designed to be able to resist rough weather in seas. Thereby they are made of really durable and tough material that ensure the safety of a container home. In addition, the material is really simple to modify. Cutting, reforming and other modifications are done by welding which is a simple and cheap procedure. Building a nice patio with a jacuzzi is suddenly affordable.

Also one great thing about containers is that their are available in all all over the world and their transportation is extremely convenient. Containers are designed to fit in a standard shipping cargo leaving no blank space in the ships. Because of the new mainstream use of containers, their weight-to-value ratio is to increase.

The benefits of container homes have been recognized worldwide. For instance, in Finland, container housing is becoming a great solution for offering affordable student homes. Please read about more the Finns’ solution to student housing in our blog. Also the world’s hotel industry is going wild of containers as new companies offering transportable accomodation solutions emerge. Container hotels is also in a luxury top-end category in the hotel industry. Please read more about luxury container hotels here.

China is a major exporter of shipping containers and Shanghai Metal Corporation is one of the leading businesses in that field. To know more about our container houses, villas, hotels and offices, please visit our website. Also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also download our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

#AddingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Smartplanet.com, Ecopressptc.com, Inthralld.com, Homedsgn.com, Buzzfeed.com, Bobvila.com, Australian Council of Trade Unions, Wikipedia, Prefabfan.com