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Starbucks’ new goal: 40,000 stores worldwide

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

SEATTLE — Starbucks Corp., its stock surging on healthy same-store sales, on Thursday set a new long-term goal to have 40,000 coffee stores worldwide, 10,000 more than its previous target.

In a meeting with financial analysts in its hometown of Seattle, Starbucks also announced a partnership with Apple Computer Inc. to feature the music it sells in its stores on Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes online music service.

The specialty coffee retailer did not give a timeline for its long-term growth plans but said it expects to have more than 14,000 stores worldwide by the end of next year. There are currently about 12,000 Starbucks stores around the world.

Starbucks said 20,000 of its stores will be in the United States.

“We’ve seen the Starbucks experience become universally accepted around the world,” Starbucks Chief Executive Jim Donald told analysts and journalists.

Starbucks said late Wednesday that sales at stores open at least 13 months increased 6 percent for the five weeks ended Oct. 1, compared to the same period ended Oct. 2, 2005. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had predicted same-store sales would increase 3.3 percent.

Starbucks’ shares climbed $1.95, or 5.7 percent on the report, to close at $35.96 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, its highest close since early July. In early trading Thursday, the shares rose another 6.9 percent, up $2.48 to $38.44.

The stock has traded between $24.86 and $39.88 over the past year.

Starbucks’ expansion plans are being fueled in part by a customer base that is broadening to include people with lower incomes and education levels, said Anne Saunders, senior vice president of global brand strategy and communications. Five years ago, the company said the average income for a person visiting a U.S. Starbucks for the first time was $92,000. Now, the company says the average income for first-time customers is $80,000.

Starbucks also said it is seeing more new customers without a college degree, and is seeing an increase in first-time visitors who are Hispanic.