GREENFIELD — A new Starbucks location is expected to open Monday, March 10, at the site of the former Friendly’s at 200 Mohawk Trail, which closed in September after roughly 42 years in business.

According to a Starbucks spokesperson, the new coffeehouse will be open from 5 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The Greenfield location will employ about 30 workers.

Following weeks of email correspondence, Starbucks declined an interview with the Greenfield Recorder on Wednesday, but confirmed the location’s opening date and staff size in a subsequent email.

The site plan for the new location was approved in April after representatives from the coffeehouse chain went before the Planning Board in February seeking a special permit to operate as a tenant in the space, which is owned by Orion Pro Friend KP LLC in Miami, Florida.

This will be Starbucks’ first location in Franklin County. The closest Starbucks locations are at least 30 minutes away from Greenfield, with one in Athol, two in Hadley and two in Keene, New Hampshire.

The 4,000-square-foot facility will feature 86 interior seats and four exterior seats. It will also operate a 14-vehicle drive-thru, an element of the proposal that prompted traffic concerns from the public when it was brought before the Planning Board.

“My main concern is backup. On Federal Street, there are two Dunkin’ Donuts and I think we’ve all experienced cars backing onto that road waiting to get onto that site [and] full of coffee,” Planning Board Chair George Touloumtzis said at the April 2024 hearing. “My bigger concern is people getting stuck on Route 2.”

Residents’ skepticism over the accuracy of a traffic study conducted by Kimley-Horn and Associates prompted the Planning Board to vote in favor of recommending to City Council a proposed decrease, from 3,000 to 2,000, in the daily vehicle trip threshold necessary for a development to require a Major Development Review.

Your Daily Puzzles

Cross|Word

Flipart

Typeshift

SpellTower

Really Bad Chess

Had the amendment been approved, it would have defined the Starbucks as a major development that requires a more thorough traffic impact study. However, at its March 20 meeting last year, City Council voted 6-6 on the article, causing the amendment to fail without a two-thirds majority.

Beginning in 1971 as a Seattle-based coffee bean wholesaler, Starbucks is now a multi-national chain of coffeehouses.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.