Schultz’s team is hard-pressed to grind out new profits in a
home market that is quickly becoming saturated. Amazingly,
with over 10,000 stores scattered across the United States and
Canada, there are still eight states in the United States with no
Starbucks stores. Frappuccino-free cities include Butte, Montana,
and Fargo, North Dakota. But big cities, affl uent suburbs,
and shopping malls are full to the brim. In coffee-crazed Seattle,
there is a Starbucks outlet for every 9,400 people, and the company
considers that the upper limit of coffee-shop saturation. In
Manhattan’s 24 square miles, Starbucks has 124 cafés, with more
on the way.