Do We Really Need 1500 More Starbucks?

Starbucks recently announced plans to open 3,000 new outlets in the Americas — 1,500 of them in the U.S. — and more in China. That may seem like business as usual for the world’s largest coffeehouse chain, which already has more than 18,000 locations around the globe. But just a few of years ago, Starbucks closed hundreds of stores – and it wasn’t just the burgeoning economic crisis that forced the coffee chain to retrench.