Where does Japan rank in terms of importance to Starbucks global business?
Almost six years after we opened here, this is the best-performing market on a unit level for Starbucks in the world. It’s also the second largest in the world [after the U.S.]. When we came here in August of 1996, we underestimated the size of the market — just like we did in America. So we’re sitting here today with approximately 360 stores, and we’re opening two new stores a week [in Japan]. We’ll have 500 stores by September, 2003, heading toward 1,000. I’ve said all along that this is one of the most important — if not the most important — market outside of North America for Starbucks, and these are the infant stages of growth. Q: Despite higher profits, Starbucks Japan’s stock price is down due to a steady drop in year-on-year sales at existing stores. Are investors wrong? A: In Japan, one of the things that caught us by surprise early on was that the stores peaked to unprecedented levels of volume right out of the starting gate. The original 50 to 100 stores did two times the
