Starbucks plans drive-thru shop at former Irondequoit Abbott's

Kevin Oklobzija//November 20, 2024//

Starbucks received preliminary approval for a drive-thru cafe at the corner of East Ridge Road and Culver Road in Irondequoit, where an Abbott's Frozen Custard once operated. (Photo by Kevin Oklobzija)

Kevin Oklobzija//November 20, 2024//

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Starbucks wants to construct what would primarily be a drive-thru coffee shop at a high-traffic corner on East Ridge Road in Irondequoit.

UPDATE: Starbucks receives preliminary approval for Irondequoit drive-thru concept

Plans to build a new Starbucks with a 14-vehicle drive-thru queue at 2080 East Ridge Road — at the corner of Culver Road — is on Monday’s agenda for the Town Planning Board.

The site was once home to Abbott’s Frozen Custard but has been vacant for close to a dozen years. Plans call for demolition of the Abbott’s building. Developers would build a new 1,300-square-foot facility in its place.

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Planning board members discussed the proposal at last week’s workshop with the developer, 2080 E. Ridge LLC, as well as Marathon Engineering, which represents Starbucks.

There will be no indoor seating, and the walk-up window is only meant for limited neighborhood pedestrian and bicycle traffic, not as an app pickup window.

While Starbucks has a full-service location about a half-mile away at 1495 East Ridge Road and North Goodman Street, the new store would serve to “relieve a lot of traffic from the other location down the road,” Matt Bucci, a representative of 2080 E. Ridge LLC, told the planning board last week.

Town board members expressed concern at the workshop about the drive-thru-only concept since there very likely would be neighborhood foot traffic as well as pedestrian traffic from nearby Eastridge High School.

Developers said the Monroe County Department of Transportation determined the best location for the entrance and exit would be off East Ridge Road.

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