Order a coffee without saying a word, and have it understood perfectly. That’s the everyday experience at Starbucks’ growing network of Signing Stores, locations staffed primarily by Deaf and hard-of-hearing employees, now operating across multiple countries and continents.
Where It All Started
The first Starbucks Signing Store opened in 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, welcoming Deaf retail partners after an intensive training program developed with the Society of Interpreters for the Deaf. The model proved successful enough that Starbucks brought it to the United States two years later, opening a location near Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., America’s first Deaf-led Starbucks, staffed by a team where 19 of 25 employees were Deaf, communicating primarily in American Sign Language.
A Global Network, Still Growing
What began as a single experimental location has since expanded into a genuine global network. Starbucks China opened its first Signing Store in Guangzhou in 2019; today the country has 20 Signing Stores spread across 16 cities. Malaysia’s network has grown to four locations, including its first in Borneo. Starbucks has also opened Signing Stores in Tokyo, Beijing, and Jakarta, where the Jakarta location specifically showcases Bisindo, Indonesia’s sign language, throughout its signage, merchandise, and decor, adapting the model to reflect each local Deaf community’s own language rather than applying a single standardized approach everywhere.
More Than a Coffee Shop
These stores are designed from the ground up for visual, sign-based communication: lower countertops, extra lighting, low-glare reflective surfaces, digital order displays, and notepads for customers who don’t sign. Deaf baristas wear aprons embroidered with ASL (or the relevant local sign language), while hearing staff wear pins identifying their own signing proficiency, a small but meaningful signal that communication access runs both directions in these spaces.
For employees, the impact goes well beyond a single shift. Hamimi, a shift supervisor at a Signing Store in Penang, Malaysia, describes the job as a platform to challenge perceptions and build confidence, while Ryotaro, an assistant store manager at a Tokyo Signing Store, has steadily worked his way up toward his goal of becoming a Deaf store manager. Stories like theirs reflect what the National Association of the Deaf highlighted when the US location first opened: real career advancement opportunities for Deaf and hard-of-hearing workers, built directly into an everyday business.
Why It Matters
Signing Stores do double duty. They create meaningful employment and leadership pathways for Deaf workers, and they function as genuine community gathering spaces, “third places,” as one Deaf store manager in Washington, D.C. described it, where Deaf customers can walk in and know communication won’t be a barrier before they even order.
The Takeaway
What started as a single store in Malaysia has grown into a model replicated across multiple countries and sign languages, proof that accessible, Deaf-led retail isn’t just a nice gesture, it’s a business model that works, and one that keeps expanding year after year.
Interested in International Sign or the global Deaf community? Follow OneDeafWorld.com for more coverage of IS, accessible technology, and events from around the world.