Starbucks President  Howard Schultz schreef het volgende in een brief naar alle Starbucks medewerkers:

Currently, we have identified the following action steps:

Slow the pace of U.S. store openings and accelerate internationally 
We now plan to open a total of 1,175 net new stores in the U.S. this year, down more than 34 percent from our fiscal 2007 openings. That includes closing approximately 100 underperforming stores. In addition, for 2009 we plan to open less than 1,000 new U.S. stores. This fiscal year, we will also open an additional 75 net new stores in international markets, increasing the international store opening target to approximately 975 stores. In 2009 that will rise to over 1,000 stores internationally, and mark the first time that our International store openings will outpace those in the U.S.

Ze richten duidelijk het vizier op de internationale markten, wellicht ook Nederland.