The beautifully renovated Starbucks Hangzhou Binjiang City Star store reopened on Dec 3, theInternational Dayof Disabled Persons.

Itis thefirstStarbuckssigning storeinHangzhou,the third in China, and theseventh worldwide. At present, there are 14 employees, includingsevenhearing-impairedstaff, whoare looking forward to building a bridge between the world oftheordinaryand the disabledwith coffee and love.

Tomake communication between barista and customer seamless,thestore designed anespecial ordering system, including hand-held menu boardsforexchange, handwriting boards, and double-sidedscreensfor ordering.Besides, tocommunicate customer needsclearly, special numbersare marked onbeverages and food items in the store.

The store features artworks that combine elements of sign language and coffee culture, created independently or with the participation ofthehearingimpaired.Also, the store is inspired by the art of sign language and offers customers its coffee accessories.

Starbucks builds on the existing coffee curriculum to create a customized, user-friendly program that allows the hearingimpaired to enhance their skills and become better integrated into society.The hearing impairedgoes throughsuchsystematic coffee training to become a qualified barista or even further.

In May last year and September this year, Starbucks opened two sign language stores in Guangzhou and Beijing respectively, both of which were very well received.This kind ofstore will soon landin Shanghai, Chengdu, Qingdao and other cities.