January 31, 2025
SEOUL – Starbucks hit 2,000 locations in South Korea as of the end of last year, making the country the coffee chain’s third-largest market after the United States and China by outpacing the Japanese market.
According to Starbucks’ global website on Thursday, South Korea recorded 2,009 stores, surpassing Japan by 18 stores, which has a population of over 120 million — more than twice the size of South Korea’s.
Globally, Starbucks operates some 36,121 stores. The US accounts for 17,049 stores, making up 47 percent of the total, while China has 7,685 stores, representing 21 percent.
Considering South Korea’s population of some 52 million — compared to the US’ 330 million and China’s 1.4 billion — the number of Starbucks stores per capita is higher than in the two countries with the most locations.
At the end of 2023, the country had 1,893 Starbucks stores, while Japan had 1,901. But over the past year, Japan increased its store count by 90 whereas Korea added 116 stores.
Japan was the first country outside North America where Starbucks expanded, opening its first store in Tokyo’s Ginza district in 1996. Korea followed three years later in 1999, opening its first location near Ewha Womans University. In 25 years, it has now surpassed 2,000 stores.
In 2016, the number of Starbucks stores in the country reached 1,000, and it has since doubled in just eight years. Since 2020, the country has added 500 more stores in just four years, averaging one new store every three days.
Seoul alone has more than 600 stores, accounting for over 30 percent of all Starbucks locations in the country. In particular, Gangnam District, home to a dense concentration of office buildings along Teheran-ro, has close to 100 stores.
“We are continuously introducing unique, differentiated stores that reflect regional characteristics and continuously developing special store concepts that align with customers’ lifestyles.” a Starbucks Korea official said.
Starbucks Korea, 67.5 percent owned by Shinsegae’s Emart, has aggressively expanded its store network, pushing its annual revenue past 3 trillion won ($2.21 billion) for the first time last year. However, its operating profit margin dropped from 10 percent in 2021 to 4.8 percent in 2023.
Meanwhile, the number of coffee shops in the country surpassed 100,000 as of 2022. South Korea’s per capita annual coffee consumption is estimated at 405 cups in 2023, some 2.7 times the global average of 152 cups, according to market research firm Euromonitor.