Starbucks still has experienced steady growth outside the U.S., as the company has opened more than 1,000 stores -- nearly 10 a week -- in other countries during the past two years.   Oct. 9 - Starbucks has 3,604 stores in 36 countries outside the U.S., and it will open in Brazil, Egypt, Russia and India in the next year. The company recently set a long-term goal with no timeline to have 20,000 international stores, and it believes its biggest growth will come in China.

 

"We expect China to be in the thousands (of stores), not hundreds," said Martin Coles, president of Starbucks Coffee International. "A substantial part of the 20,000 stores will come in China."

 

Four years ago, Starbucks said it wanted to someday be in 80 international markets, but Coles said the company has scaled back those plans.

 

"We would rather go slower and execute with excellence," he said.

 

However, Starbucks still has experienced steady growth outside the U.S., as the company has opened more than 1,000 stores -- nearly 10 a week -- in other countries during the past two years.

 

"We have only been international for 10 years," Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz said. "What we have been able to do is extraordinary."

 

Schultz said the key to entering new countries is finding local partners who know the business and political landscapes.

 

Starbucks and M.H. Alshaya, an international retailer, plan to open a Starbucks in Cairo, Egypt, at the end of this calendar year. The two also plan to open a store in Moscow next year. Through its joint venture company, Starbucks Brasil Comercio de Cafes, Starbucks will open an outlet in San Paulo, Brazil, also by the end of this calendar year. Starbucks is negotiating a joint venture agreement for India.