Starbucks Coffee Korea opened its 1,000th store in southern Seoul, Wednesday, setting another milestone as a leader in Korea’s booming coffee franchise industry.
The Korean unit of the Seattle-based coffee chain, which opened its first outlet near Ewha Womans University in Seoul in 1999, will continue to aggressively expand its presence here in the coming years, company officials said.
The Cheongdam Star store is Starbucks Korea’s seventh Coffee Forward outlet, which offers a wide range of premium coffee beans for a limited period of time.
To attract more wealthy consumers residing in southern Seoul, the company plans to mobilize all its knowhow and expertise to run the Cheongdam Star store as its most prestigious flagship outlet in the country.
“The opening of the 1,000th store marks the most important milestone in our 17-year history,” Starbucks Coffee Korea CEO Lee Seock-koo said.
“Using it as a springboard, we will create many more premium coffee houses that make our customers feel at home and serve them with high-quality beverages and deserts.”
The three-floor store is open from 9 a.m. through 11 p.m. and can accommodate 200 people at once.
Celebrating the opening, Starbucks Korea plans to give the first 5,000 customers, who make purchases of more than 35,000 won at its upscale “Reserve” outlets, complimentary metal canisters used to store coffee beans.
The company is projected to generate nearly 1 trillion won in sales this year if it opens new stores at a current pace. In the first nine months of 2016, it earned 715.3 billion won in sales. In 2015, the sales of Korea’s largest coffee chain reached 773.9 billion won.
Lee Hyo-sik
