Starbucks is on a caffeine-fuelled growth spurt in Asia. According to a report from the company newsroom, Starbucks plans to go from around 500 stores to at least 1,500 stores over the next three years, and predicts that its operations in China will be its second largest, outside of the U.S., by 2014. Starbucks coffee stores are currently located in 48 Chinese cities. The company has had mixed success with expansion, however. Although it has strongly rebounded from flat sales in the U.S., it faces continuing resistance in Europe -where "fickle regional palates" and a sagging economy have weighed down performance, according to a recent New York Times article.
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