As anyone who hasn’t been stuck under a rock must know, Goldman Sachs is ditching its pricey office space in the iconic tower known as The Centre — which imaginatively derives its name from being in the centre of town — for a new location in Causeway Bay.
In my experience, moving offices is an annoyance at best and traumatic at worst, especially when you have to give up a coveted address.
There’s an upshot to all this inconvenience, however. The move seemed perfectly timed to coincide with the opening of Starbucks’ flagship store in the same building — one that serves a full range of alcohol. The caffeine emporium will be the first to serve a full menu of coffee-infused craft beers and cocktails.
Now, I’m not one to rave about wannabe alcoholic beverages like coffee-infused crème caramel beer, but the drink selection is impressive, and Goldman’s bankers are ready to take advantage of that.
Likely intoxicated, a friend of mine at the bank recently declared to his team that all offsite meetings will be held there.
Another friend posted a picture of an espresso martini that was an instant hit on social media, stirring huge cheers from colleagues and impassioned pleas from the team to start having their weekly morning meetings downstairs.
The Centre may have lost a venerated client, but Starbucks will likely be laughing all the way to the bank.