Starbucks Corp., a famous U.S. based company, is the largest international coffeehouse chain and coffee company. It owns over 20,300 locations in more than sixty countries. Over 13,000 stores are situated in the USA. Starbucks headquarters are located in Seattle, Washington.

Starbucks stores trade coffee beans, drinks, salads, sandwiches, snacks, tumblers, mugs, pastries, ice-cream and similar products. The corporation also owns Starbucks Entertainment branch and Hear Music division. They sell music, books, etc.

The company was called Starbucks after one of the characters of Moby-Dick, a novel by American writer Herman Melville. This is Starbuck, the chief mate from the whaling boat Pequod.

Landmarks in the History of Starbucks

• 1971 – On the 30th of March, partners Jerry Baldwin, an English teacher, Gordon Bowker, a writer, and Zev Siegl, a history teacher, open the first Starbucks location in Seattle, Washington. At the beginning their company only traded roasted coffee.
• 1982 – Howard Schultz becomes a member of Starbucks team.
• 1983 – Schultz travels to Italy, where he decides to bring Italian traditions to the USA. He leaves Starbucks and opens his own coffeehouses named Il Giornale.
• 1984 – Starbucks purchases Peet’s, the coffee supplier, it used to buy green beans from.
• 1986 – Starbucks owns six stores in Seattle and starts selling espresso.
• 1987 – Howard Schultz and local investors acquire Starbucks. The company begins to expand quickly and opens the first Starbucks locations in other regions.
• 1986 – Starbucks has 46 stores in the USA.
• 1992 – Starbucks becomes a public company. At the time it has about 140 Starbucks locations and more than million of revenue.
• 1996 – The company opens a location in Tokyo. Japan. It is its first store outside North America.
• 1996 – Starbucks acquires Seattle Coffee Company, based in the UK, and starts working in the European market.
• 1999 – Starbucks opens a chain of restaurants named Circadia in San Francisco area. Later they are reconstructed into cafes.
• 1999 – The Company acquires the Tazo and enters the tea business.
• 2001 – Orin Smith is appointed CEO and President of Starbucks.
• 2002 – Starbucks launches its first Latin American location at Mexico City and starts a coffee company in Switzerland for managing wholesale purchasing of green coffee beans.
• 2003 – Starbucks acquires Torrefazione Italia and Seattle’s Best Coffee. AFC Enterprises sold them for million.
• 2004 – Starbucks starts a store in Lima, Peru, its first one in South America.
• 2005 – Jim Donald takes the position of President and CEO.
• 2006 – The company purchases most of Diedrich Coffee retail stores, including those of Coffee People chain, based in Oregon. Soon all of them are converted to Starbucks locations.
• 2007 – The first Starbucks store is opened in Russia.
• 2008 – Starbucks launches its website, called My Starbucks Idea, meant for getting feedback from clients.
• 2008 – Starbucks purchases Clover Brewing System and starts testing it at some of its locations.
• 2008 – Starbucks introduced its loyalty program for owners of Starbucks Card. It offers different benefits, like free syrups or Wi-Fi access. Now the Card provides discounts and other advantages.
• 2008 – Howard Schultz heads the company again.
• 2008 – 2009 – Starbucks opens locations in several European and South American countries, such as Belgium, Bulgaria, Netherland, Poland, Portugal, The Czech Republic, Argentina and Brazil.
• 2010 – Starbucks begins to sell at some of its American locations.
• 2012 – The company announced the acquaintance of Teavana.
• 2012 – Starbucks opens the first store in Mumbai, India.

Starbucks Locations

On November 16, 2012, the company had more than 20,350 Starbucks locations in sixty one countries. Look at the table below.

• The USA – 13,123
• Canada – 1,299
• Japan – 977
• The United Kingdom – 793
• China – 732
• South Korea – 473
• Mexico – 363
• Taiwan – 282
• The Philippines – 204
• Thailand – 164
• Other countries – about 1950

Starbucks stores can be found in many popular bookshops, like Canadian Chapters-Indigo and American Barnes & Noble. It has its shop even aboard Allure of the Seas, the second largest luxury liner of Royal Caribbean International.

You can find the nearest Starbucks location, using online locator on our website.