No time to stop for that morning fix of java? No problem. Starbucks is adding more drive-thru locations in the Valley. These stores either stand alone or adjoin their newest stores. So far, the Seattle-based company has opened four drive-thru’s in the San Fernando Valley, with a fifth now under construction at Tujunga Avenue and Camarillo Street in North Hollywood. That location will open sometime next year. The local stores are part of a growing effort to add drive-thru locations to the company’s mix. “Approximately one-third of our North American store openings in fiscal 2005 are anticipated to be drive-thru locations,” said Michelle Wang, a Starbucks spokeswoman. “They provide a great way to better meet the needs of our customers and will become a larger mix of our store portfolio as they are introduced in areas where our customers are not currently being served.” Starbucks had more than 600 drive-thru locations in North America as of last year, but only 40 such stores in the Los Angeles County area and fewer still in the Valley. The first Valley drive-thru opened about three years ago at Truman Street and S. Maclay Avenue in the city of San Fernando, and since then, Starbucks has opened drive-thru locations at Reseda Boulevard and Vanowen Street in Reseda, Sepulveda Boulevard and Nordhoff Street in North Hills, and the most recent, at Saticoy Street and Louise Avenue, which opened in Van Nuys last month. “The stores in drive-thru locations are very profitable,” said Kristine M. Koerber, an analyst who covers Starbucks for JMP Securities in San Francisco. “That’s why half their openings are drive-thru. The cost is slightly higher, but it’s offset by higher sales volumes.” The drive-thru’s, often adjoining a traditional caf & #233; store but sometimes in standalone locations, offer the same products available inside the store, and operate during the same hours. But the business at drive-thru’s is concentrated in the morning hours, making it easier for commuters to access the drive-thru and reducing the burden of additional traffic in the retail strip centers where they tend to be located. “They call them commuter stores, and they do most of their business by 10:30 in the morning,” said Todd Nathanson, leasing agent for Centers Business Management, which is leasing the center under development in North Hollywood. About 65,000 cars a day come through the intersection where the upcoming North Hollywood store will open, a stone’s throw from connections to the 101, 134 and 170 freeways, Nathanson said. “The nice thing about these commuter stores is they typically do most of their business before the other stores open,” Nathanson added. “So it’s a nice balance for these shopping centers that are famous for being under-parked to begin with.”