• July 29, 2011

Starbucks, which just reported fiscal Q3 profit growth of 34%, also announced its intention to open 800 new stores for its fiscal ending September 2012 (a 33% increase in growth over this year), reports MarketWatch.

200 of the stores are planned for the U.S. (half company-operated, half franchised). One hundred fifty of the 600 overseas openings will be in China, where Starbucks is aiming to have 1,500 stores by 2015. (The chain's same-store sales in that region grew 35% in the most recent quarter.)

Same-store sales growth is expected to exceed 7% for this fiscal for the second year in a row. The most recent quarter marked the first time that average daily transactions per store exceeded the chain's previous record 2006 levels.