Starbucks To Open First Store in Italy
The American coffee shop chain Starbucks has announced that it will open its first store in Italy at the beginning of 2017.
Starbucks has always been very careful about opening shops in Europe, where drinking coffee has a big tradition. Especially Italy has long cultural and historical ties with coffee . It was first served in Venice where traders brought it from the Far East. In 1901 the first espresso machine was produced in Milan, the place where the first Starbucks is scheduled to open.
Italians, especially older people, have mixed feelings about the opening of an American coffee shop in their country. In Italy people stand at a coffee bar, where they drink their espresso, talk about politics and walk out again after five or ten minutes. In addition, there is a sharp contrast to the strong shot of espresso the Italians drink compared to what they consider watery and undrinkable American coffee.
The Seattle-based company, however, knows the risk it is taking. It wants to make Italian shops different than shops in other countries, with a bar and price that can compete with the cheap Italian espresso , that often sells for under a euro.
Currently, Starbucks has 22000 stores in 67 countries. China is the biggest market, where 500 new coffee shops open every year. 90 million people around the world visit a Starbucks store every week.
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Words
- announce = to say officially
- compared to = if you look at two things and see what is different
- compete = to be more successful than another company
- consider = think to be
- currently = at the moment
- especially = above all
- however = but
- in addition = also
- mixed feelings = here: not sure what you should think about something
- politics = activities of the government and political parties
- schedule = plan
- Seattle-based = the company works out of Seattle
- serve = to give someone food or drinks
- sharp contrast = very different compared to something else
- shot = a very small amount
- tie = connection, link
- trader = person who buys and sells things