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.

“I have never been more energized or optimistic about the opportunities ahead as Kevin transitions to the CEO role and leads the most talented and experienced leadership team in Starbucks history,” he continued. Schultz will remain with the company as executive chairman.

A substantial share of the new store openings is targeted for China, where the company now operates 2,500 locations, or about 10% of its global tally. “Starbucks remains on track to open more than 5,000 stores in China by 2021 and expects the market will eclipse that in the US over time,” the company says.

Another contributor, albeit on a far smaller scale, to the store-count increase will be the upscale segment. Starbucks introduced its first Roastery store in Seattle two years ago. The company plans to open its next Roastery in Shanghai in 2017, Tokyo and New York City in 2018 and a fifth location in Europe to be announced early next year.

Starbucks will use the Roastery format as a springboard for its new Starbucks Reserve brand, with the first of these new stores opening in Seattle and Chicago in the second half of FY17. Plans call for 1,000 or more Reserve openings globally over time.

Instant Insights /

Starbucks Revs Up Store Growth Plans

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