Schultz wants to go national. Starbucks provides him a roasting plant, the retail chain and the staff, which he says “has a tremendous experience and enthusiasm about coffee.” He envisions expanding the espresso bars in big-city downtowns and the Starbucks stores in the suburbs of the same cities.
Howard Schultz (now CEO of Starbucks) STARBUCKS COFFEE IS SOLD TO OWNER OF IL GIORNALE (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
No, this is not a mis-timed April Fools Joke—this article is from 1987. And what a strange idea that must have been in 1987—that espresso bars would populate big-city downtowns and suburbs (and of course everywhere else imaginable)!
