[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]
Starbucks Brews Up Plan for at Least 5,000 More U.S. Stores
CEO Brian Niccol Points to Region Between Texas and Virginia, Plus Center of Country, for Growth Potential
Key Takeaways:
- Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said the company can add at least 5,000 U.S. stores, mentioning the South and Central parts of the U.S. as areas of focus.nia.
- Starbucks said its Nashville corporate office will support growth in the South and Northeast as it expands supply chain capacity.
- The company expects to accelerate North American cafe openings to 400 annually by fiscal 2028 and sees room for international growth.
Starbucks Corp. CEO Brian Niccol said the coffee chain can add at least 5,000 more stores in the U.S., echoing comments from earlier this year.
Niccol pointed to opportunities in the area between Texas and Virginia, as well as the center of the country, during a presentation at the Evercore Consumer and Retail Conference on June 9.
“We just have had a West Coast, East Coast bias and didn’t develop enough in the middle of the country,” he said.
In March, Starbucks said it was opening a new corporate office in Nashville, Tenn., to support its growth ambitions in the South and Northeast. Company headquarters remain in Seattle.
According to Starbucks' website, the coffee chain was scheduled to move into a temporary office in Nashville in May while the new facility was being built. It is expected to open in 2027. The location will become an office for sourcing operation teams.
Nashville, due to its central location and access to multiple U.S. geographic regions, has emerged as a logistics hub in recent years. Amazon.com Inc. selected Nashville for its the site of a new fulfillment, transportation and supply chain center in 2018, adding 5,000 jobs to the area at the time.
In January, Starbucks laid out a plan to beef up its North American supply chain during its investor day presentation as it moves into the next phase of Niccol’s turnaround plan. That investment will help support an expanded set of food offerings through more regular, daily deliveries to stores.
TT Top 100 Logistics Companies
The largest 3PLs in North America continued to face volatile business conditions last year, from compressed margins to tariff-driven supply chain upheaval. Read more
By fiscal 2028, the company expects to ramp up the pace of its cafe expansion to 400 per year. In 2025, its North American footprint shrank by around 110 stores.
On June 9, Niccol also noted the company is looking at aggressive growth in other countries.
“I know we don’t talk about it a lot, but look, we’ve got 22,000 stores outside the United States. There’s no reason why that can’t double,” Niccol said.
Including locations operated with partners, Starbucks operates more than 41,000 stores in 89 markets around the world. Close to 23,000 of these are outside the U.S. and Canada.
Starbucks shares rose 2.7% at 12:41 p.m. in New York trading.
Transport Topics contributed to this report.
