Starbucks Revs Up Store Growth Plans

Howard Schultz, seen here at Wednesday’s Investor Day event, will stay on as Starbucks chairman.

SEATTLE—Starbucks said Wednesday it plans to open 12,000 new locations globally by 2021, an increase of nearly 50% on the coffee chain’s current store count worldwide. Over the next five years, the Seattle-based retailer intends to grow revenue by 10%, earnings per share by 15% to 20% and same-store sales by mid-single-digit percentages each year. The revenue and earnings growth plans include the channel development segment, with foodservice and packaged goods part of the mix.

“Industry-leading innovation is driving our core business and creating further separation from competitors all around the world,” Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks, told attendees at the company’s biannual Investor Day event in New York City. “Our Roasteries and Starbucks Reserve stores”—which Schultz will spearhead as he cedes the CEO’s chair to Kevin Johnson next April—“will further transform, and elevate, the Starbucks Experience we deliver to our customers, and are laying the foundation for our next wave of profitable, global growth.