On Monday, March 18, Starbucks celebrated its 30,000^th store opening globally. The company has driven net new store growth of 6% to 7% annually, and its latest milestone was reached at the Starbucks Reserve Shenzhen Bay Mix City location in Shenzhen, China.

“The opening of Starbucks 30,000th store is a proud moment for all Starbucks partners,” says Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson. “Over the past 48 years we have worked to build a different kind of company based on a mission grounded in the human experience, the world’s finest coffees, and a constant of pursuit of doing good.  Starbucks now serves more than 100 million customer occasions across 78 markets around the world. It all started with our first store in Seattle, Washington, and today we celebrate the 30,000th store that just opened in Shenzhen, China.”

In recent years, the company has looked to innovate with its stores. There are now three Starbucks Reserve Roasteries that have opened in Milan, Italy, New York City, and Tokyo, Japan. These stores feature an immersive coffee experience, unique cocktails, and Princi bakeries with on-site baking of fresh breads, pastries, desserts, and more.

Additionally, Starbucks opened its first Deaf-friendly sign language store in the United States (and second globally) in Washington, D.C. in October of 2018. The store format is a distinctive retail experience that promotes accessibility and offers employment and career advancement opportunities for Deaf and hard of hearing people.