Starbucks arms staff with handheld devices at new express store

ESPRESSO SHOTS: Customers place their order with a roving staff member armed with a handheld device at express Starbucks stores.

Time-crunched, caffeine-deprived New Yorkers are getting express Starbucks stores designed to shorten wait times courtesy of "mobile" points of sale in a newly launched pilot project. 

Not far off the heels of the opening of its Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle – pitched as the Willy Wonka theatre of coffee – the coffee giant has announced plans to open several express format stores, starting in the heart of New York’s Financial District.