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Starbucks opens first store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.
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Howard Schultz joins Starbucks as director of retail operations and marketing. Starbucks begins providing coffee to fine restaurants and espresso bars.
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Howard travels to Italy, where he’s impressed with the popularity of espresso bars in Milan. He sees the potential to develop a similar coffeehouse culture in Seattle.
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Howard convinces the founders of Starbucks to test the coffeehouse concept in downtown Seattle, where the first Starbucks Caffe Latte is served. This successful experiment is the genesis for a company that Schultz founds in 1985.
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17 Total stores open
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Offers full health benefits to employees. Total stores: 33
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Opens first licensed airport store at Seattle’s Sea-Tac International Airport.Total stores: 116
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Begins serving Frappuccino blended beverages. Opens roasting facility in York, Pa.Total stores: 677
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Begins selling bottled Frappuccino coffee drink through North American Coffee Partnership (Starbucks and Pepsi-Cola North America).Opens stores in: Japan (first store outside of North America) and Singapore.Total stores: 1,015
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Establishes The Starbucks Foundation, benefiting local literacy programs in communities where Starbucks has coffeehouses.Opens stores in: the Philippines. Total stores: 1,412
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Acquires Tazo, a tea company based in Portland, Oregon
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Acquires Hear Music, a San Francisco–based music company. Opens stores in: China, Kuwait, Lebanon and South Korea. Total stores: 2,498
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Howard Schultz moves from chairman and chief executive officer to chairman and chief global strategist.Orin Smith promoted to president and chief executive officer..
Opens stores in: Australia, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.Total stores: 3,501 -
Introduces the Starbucks Card, an innovative stored-value card for customers to use and reload.Opens stores in: Austria and Switzerland. Total stores: 4,709
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Establishes Starbucks Coffee Trading Company (SCTC) in Lausanne, Switzerland.Opens stores in: Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Mexico Oman, Puerto Rico and Spain.Total stores: 5,886
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Acquires Seattle Coffee Company, which includes Seattle’s Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia coffee brands.Opens new state-of-the-art roasting facilities in Carson Valley, Nev., and Amsterdam, Netherlands.Opens stores in: Chile, Cyprus, Peru and Turkey. Total stores: 7,225
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Opens first Starbucks Farmer Support Center in San Jose, Costa Rica.Releases Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company CD through a collaboration between Concord Records and Starbucks Hear Music.Introduces Starbucks Coffee Master Program.Opens stores in: France. Total stores: 8,569
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Orin Smith retires as Starbucks president and chief executive officer.Jim Donald promoted to president and chief executive officer. Acquires Ethos Water and sets a goal of donating $10 million tosupport clean water projects over the next five years.Opens stores in: Bahamas, Ireland and Jordan. Total stores: 10,241
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Launches the industry’s first paper beverage cup containing post- consumer recycled fiber, saving more than 75,000 trees each year.Opens stores in: Brazil and Egypt. Total stores: 12,440
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Eliminates all artificial trans fat and makes 2 percent milk the new standard for espresso beverages in all U.S. stores as part of commitment to health and wellness.Opens stores in: Romania and Russia. Total stores: 15,011
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Chairman Howard Schultz returns as chief executive officer. Announces a renewed focus on customer experience and innovation. Acquires the Clover brewing system.Launches MyStarbucksIdea.com, Starbucks first online community.
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Becomes the world’s largest buyer of Fair Trade coffee. Food items made without artificial flavors, artificial transfats, artificial dyes and high-fructose corn syrup.Opens second Starbucks Farmer Support Center in Kigali, Rwanda.