But if Starbucks can count on its youth appeal to win a welcome in new markets, such enthusiasm cannot be counted on
indefinitely. In Japan, the company beat even its own bullish expectations, growing to 875 stores after opening its first in Tokyo in
1996. Affluent young Japanese women like Anna Kato, a 22-yearold Toyota Motor Corp. worker, loved the place. “I don’t care if
it costs more, as long as it tastes sweet,” she says, sitting in the
world’s busiest Starbucks, in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. Yet samestore sales growth has fallen in Japan, Starbucks’ top foreign market, as rivals offer similar fare. Meanwhile in England, Starbucks’
second-biggest overseas market, with over 400 stores, imitators
are popping up left and right to steal market share.