As late nights loom, staying up gets easier

If you've ever craved a caramel macchiato or a chai tea latte at 2 a.m., your prayers have been answered: Starbucks on 34th and Walnut streets is now open all night long.

On Jan. 8, the local Starbucks officially became the first 24-hour location in all of the Philadelphia metro area, and only the fourth of this type in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey regions.

This schedule change means that students will be able to fuel their coffee addiction seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 364 days a year, with Christmas Day being Starbucks' only non-work day of the year.

With this new all-day schedule, Starbucks is hoping to provide students with a third location to study and socialize, outside of the dorm and the library, manager David Kinsey said.

"It's a third-place mentality between work and home," Kinsey said. "People congregate at our locations, [and it's also] the most convenient location for a bagel."

The decision to stay open around the clock is the result of an apparent demand from customers for coffee past 11:30 p.m., which was the previous closing time.

"Prior to Jan. 8, at closing time, customers would try to get in, maybe wanting something savory, still pulling on that door for a Starbucks product," Kinsey said. "We responded to the need in the community."

Starbucks will also work cooperatively with Penn Police, which uses the shop as a check-in point throughout the night to help ensure safety for people in the area, Kinsey added.

And this "innovative, outside-the-box approach to business," as Kinsey calls it, has actually proved to be successful.

There were "less than ten people the first night, but it has exponentially increased since then," Kinsey pointed out.

Though most Penn students are still currently unaware of the extended hours, many are excited about the prospect of a place to perk up for those long study nights.

"It's great," Engineering junior Rachel Rothman said. "I'm an engineer, and we have crazy hours."

Others echoed Rothman's sentiments.

"It might be another place to study late [at] night when other places aren't open," College senior Noah Sugermen said.

Engineering senior Jonathan Lehr added that "it's pretty cool, especially during finals week, when you need a little jolt."

"I would go at 4 a.m.," Lehr said.

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