South Korea has overtaken Japan in the number of Starbucks stores for the first time, according to Starbucks' global website. As of the end of last year, South Korea had 2,009 stores, surpassing Japan's 1,991 by 18 stores. This makes South Korea the third country in the world with the most Starbucks stores, following the United States and China.

Globally, there are 40,576 Starbucks stores, with the United States (17,049 stores) and China (7,685 stores) accounting for about 60% of the total.

At the end of 2023, South Korea had 1,893 Starbucks stores and Japan had 1,901, a difference of 8 stores. In just one year, Japan added 90 stores, falling short of 2,000, while South Korea added 116 stores, surpassing Japan.

Japan was the first country outside of North America where Starbucks expanded, opening its first store in Ginza, Tokyo in 1996.

South Korea opened its first store in front of Ewha Womans University in 1999, three years later than Japan. It took 25 years for South Korea to surpass 2,000 stores. In 2020, South Korea had 1,508 stores, 121 fewer than Japan, but it only took four years to add another 500 stores. That's an average of one new store every three days. Currently, there are 600 stores in Seoul alone, with nearly 100 stores in Gangnam-gu, where many office buildings are located.

Thanks to the continuous addition of stores, Starbucks Korea (SCK Company), which is 67.5% owned by E-Mart, is expected to have surpassed 3 trillion won in sales for the first time last year.

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]