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Starbucks still roasting after 30 years
( 2001-09-08 12:19 ) (7 )

The company that made latte an all-American drink marked its 30th birthday on Friday by handing out free coffee and pledging its loyalty to the city it turned into the nation's coffee capital.

As local officials congratulated the cappuccino king and slurped down steamed drinks, Starbucks Corp. Chairman Howard Schultz paid homage to Seattle, where he transformed coffee from a 30-cent afterthought to a US$3.00 treat.

"I can guarantee you we will never leave the city of Seattle," Schultz told hundreds of coffee lovers bellying up to the bar at one of the bean baron's earliest coffee shops.

Earlier this week, Seattle's biggest corporate citizen, Boeing Co., flew the coop, moving about 500 jobs to Chicago, including top executives who gave a variety of uncompelling reasons for the exodus.

Some 80,000 of Boeing's 198,000 employees still work in Washington, where it is still the state's largest employer, but officially none work in Seattle, and civic leaders praised Starbucks as a faithful Northwest icon.

"They have changed Seattle's life and they are one of our identities," Mayor Paul Schell told Reuters as he sipped a free latte -- a single tall with 2 percent milk.

Schultz and Schell were joined by Washington Governor Gary Locke and basketball legend turned coffee shop owner Earvin "Magic" Johnson at the podium, praising Starbucks for community initiatives like bringing books to poor children.

"It's unfortunate that there's a lot of minorities that can't read or won't read," said Johnson, a one-time superstar point guard with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Johnson then poked fun at Seattle, saying the sunny day was the first he had ever seen in the Emerald City and predicted the Seattle SuperSonics, recently bought by Schultz and others, would win a National Basketball Association title.

"Just don't do it at the Lakers' expense," Johnson said.

Locke's spokeswoman let slip that the governor really doesn't drink a lot of coffee, preferring Earl Gray tea.

EVEN COFFEE NOT IMMUNE

Before the speeches, Schultz acknowledged that the economic slowdown gripping the United States was hampering Starbucks sales.

Last week, Starbucks reported its worst monthly sales growth in its history as a public company, eking out a 1-percent gain in stores open at least a year as belt-tightening US. consumers switch to cheaper brews.

"The economy has clearly affected many companies," Schultz told Reuters. But he noted the company had not posted negative sales in 10 years and was still poised for aggressive growth overseas, saying sales were strong in 25 foreign markets.

Schultz declined to comment on recent reports that Starbucks was preparing to sell stock in its highly successful Japanese coffee shop holdings.

Starbucks currently owns or operates more than 4,600 coffee shops, including 3,700 in North America, and opened more than 1,100 in the year ending August 26. It plans to extend its espresso empire to over 20,000 stores in coming years.