Our data shows that in September 2019, Starbucks had over 3.5 million customer visits a week for two weeks at their U.S. stores. A visit is defined as spending more than four minutes inside the store. Starbucks saw a sharp decline in sales at the height of widespread COVID-19-related lockdowns in April 2020, with a little over 1.2 million weekly customer visits. However, foot traffic started to pick back up with just over 2.6 million visits a week in September 2020. The company eventually saw a steady increase back to pre-pandemic numbers in 2021, seeing over 3.3 million customer visits at their locations last September.
With Starbucks having released their Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL) even earlier this year, it's not shocking to learn that September seems to consistently show strong customer turnout. Instead of its usual release date just after Labor Day weekend, Starbucks moved up this year's release of the PSL to August 28 (per Adweek).
From the latte's debut in 2003 until September 2020, Well + Good reported that Starbucks had sold a whopping 424 million PSLs. Now CNN reports that the total number of PSLs that Starbucks has sold has increased to over 600 million. With the pumpkin craze continuing strong almost two decades after its inception, it isn't a surprise that the price of the PSL has increased. Several Starbucks locations have priced the illustrious drink at $5.95, a $0.50 increase from last year's price –- around a 4% price hike, according to Lauren Boebert. One thing's clear: pumpkin spice has become a big business.
