A new Starbucks location near Syracuse University doesn’t have the usual tables and chairs for the work-at-the-café set. Instead, it has drive-up and walk-up windows.

Innovation? Well, sort of. It’s a move the company had tried in 1994 before focusing more on the fuller layouts. But now competitors are on the company’s heels, both with consumers and with developers and landlords, according to Matt Lipson and Mike Philbin, both senior vice presidents and co-founders of the Northmarq Restaurant Group.

Not that Starbucks will be going away with its 16,941 U.S. stores at the end of October 2024. “But they’re not necessarily the most sought out brand and the one most selling,” Lipson told GlobeSt.com. The company’s domestic sales declined 6% with a 10% decline in comparable transactions, partially offset by a 4% increase in average ticket size.