The store was quickly repaired, and the protesters scattered to
other cities. Yet cup by cup, Starbucks really is caffeinating the
world, its green-and-white emblem beckoning to consumers on
three continents. In 1999, Starbucks Corp. had 281 stores abroad.
Today, it has about 5,500—and it’s still in the early stages of a
plan to colonize the globe. If the protesters were wrong in their
tactics, they weren’t wrong about Starbucks’ ambitions. They
were just early.