Starbucks Is Spending $1B to Make Its Cafes Feel Human Again
Synopsis
Starbucks plans a $1 billion cafe investment across North America, targeting up to 9,000 stores as sales recover and US coffee consumption remains strong.
Starbucks is investing $1 billion in cafes in North America, expanding seating at existing cafes and revamping their interiors as CEO Brian Niccol seeks to rebuild the cafe business.
The new design will be sent to approximately 1500 stores by the end of September 2026. Individual remodels are generally around $150,000, and can be done overnight, keeping stores open during the remodeling.
North America Gets the Biggest Store Reset
The $1 billion cafe investment is for the Starbucks' North American network of 18,371 locations, as of the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2026. It comprised 11,149 company stores, and 7,222 licensed stores in the United States and Canada.
These redesigns feature additional seating, leather chairs, rugs and bookshelves. Starbucks has already increased its chairs by approximately 25,000 and over 200 stores in the Los Angeles metropolitan area have been redesigned since 2025.
The Starbucks $1 billion cafe investment will be in addition to the company's international store system. As of the end of Q3, there were 41,304 Starbucks outlets worldwide, including 22,933 in international markets, including China, Japan, India and the UK.
China has a joint enterprise with Boyu Capital, with the latter holding 60% and Starbucks 40%. The deal came in the wake of transferring Starbucks' Chinese retail business to the new entity in 2026.
Sales Improve as Coffee Habits Hold Firm
It is the fourth quarter in a row that Starbucks has boosted comparable sales, as it makes a $1 billion investment in cafes. The comparable-store sales growth in Q3 FY2026 was 7.9% across the globe, 8.1% in North America and 7.9% in the U.S.
Starbucks said that quarterly revenue came in at $9.3 billion, which is 1% less than a year before. The fall was driven by the China transaction, which brought the company's retail business under its new global structure, the company said.
The Spring 2026 National Coffee Data Trends (NCDT) report found that 66% of US adults drank coffee in the past day and 73% in the past week. The domestic market that Starbucks is aiming for is large, with almost 195 million Americans drinking coffee every week.
It also revealed that 82% of past-day coffee drinkers prepared their coffee at home, followed by 28% who prepared it away from home. The 2026 NCDT Specialty Coffee Report shows that 47% of past-day consumption was specialty coffee, as opposed to 42% of regular coffee.
The Starbucks $1 billion investment in the cafe is just part of a larger strategy to boost store volume as the company works to control expenses and expands globally.
Starbucks will have approximately 600 to 650 net new coffeehouses around the world in fiscal 2026, with the remodelling programme in North America prioritising existing stores over new ones.
Source: FT
Pooja Malik is a business journalist with over six years of experience covering startups, entrepreneurship, and emerging trends. She has previously worked with leading media platforms such as YourStory Media and BW BusinessWorld, where she reported on business, policy, and market developments. Currently, she serves as Editor at The Inspirepreneur Magazine, where she writes and edits stories across business, lifestyle, and travel, with a focus on clarity, accuracy, and reader relevance.
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