In 2004, Starbucks Corp. and Borders Group, Inc. made a deal: Borders would begin replacing its cafés with branches of Starbucks-owned Seattle's Best Coffee. Now it's Burlington's turn. During the month of June, Café Espresso in downtown's biggest bookstore will be replaced with a new, improved coffee shop.

According to Borders Operations Manager Heather Carstairs, "They're going to totally revamp it and repaint it. They'll have new furniture for outside." And the café has already begun to phase in a few new food products such as Eli's cheesecake and carrot cake. But "the biggest change is just going to be to the drinks themselves," she suggests.

Carstairs isn't sure when construction is slated to begin: The corporation hasn't been particularly forthcoming with info. But she does know that the buzz-producing biz will close for two weeks, then reopen under the new name. No other aspects of Borders' business will be affected.