Starbucks Reveals Plans to Expand to Russia in Summer 2007

U.S. coffee giant Starbucks has announced plans to open its first coffee shops in Russia later this year. This summer ten coffee shops will start operating in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Bloomberg news agency reported. The stores’ franchisee will be Kuwaiti retailer M.H. Alshaya.

“We’ll start opening our first stores in Moscow and St. Petersburg in August, then review expansion plans every six months,” Bloomberg cited Mohammed Alshaya, CEO of M.H. Alshaya, as saying.

At the end of the last year Jim Donald, Starbucks CEO, said the chain would add 2,400 stores worldwide in 2007. The firm’s target is to attain a total of 40,000 stores around the world.