Starbucks Acquires Full Ownership of Its Hawaii and Puerto Rico Operations; Transactions Support the Company's Growth Strategy

Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq:SBUX) today announced thatit has acquired full ownership of Coffee Partners Hawaii, thejoint-venture company that operates its retail stores in Hawaii, andCafe del Caribe, the joint-venture company that operates its retailstores in Puerto Rico. The financial terms of these acquisitions werenot disclosed. Starbucks had owned a five percent interest in bothcompanies, which will now be operated as wholly-owned subsidiaries. Asof January 1, 2006, there were 54 stores with approximately 1,100partners (employees) in Hawaii and 13 stores with approximately 300partners in Puerto Rico.

"Starbucks is very excited about these acquisitions, which webelieve will allow us to achieve greater operational efficiencies andaccelerate our expansion in both markets," said Martin Coles,president, Starbucks Coffee International. "Additionally, thesetransactions allow Starbucks and all our partners to be moreintegrated into the communities within Hawaii and Puerto Rico bybuilding on our strong human connections in those markets."

"The acquisitions of these two markets are consistent with ourstrategy of acquiring increased equity ownership in our Internationalmarkets where appropriate," said Michael Casey, chief financialofficer, Starbucks Coffee Company. "We expect the combinedacquisitions to be modestly accretive to earnings per share,consistent with our fiscal year 2006 operating plans."

"Our partners at Coffee Partners Hawaii and Cafe del Caribe inPuerto Rico have done a tremendous job establishing Starbucks as oneof the most respected and recognized brands in these two markets,"said Dean McPhail, chief executive officer, Coffee Partners Hawaii andCafe del Caribe.

"To ensure a seamless transition for customers, partners and otherstakeholders, the current leadership teams in Hawaii and Puerto Ricowill remain Starbucks partners and an integral part of the respectiveoperations for the foreseeable future."

Starbucks has been a part of the communities in Hawaii sinceCoffee Partners Hawaii opened the first Starbucks location in Oahu in1996. Following its success in Hawaii, Starbucks and its Hawaiipartners expanded the relationship to include Puerto Rico, opening thefirst store in San Juan in 2002.

About Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation is the leading retailer, roaster and brandof specialty coffee in the world, with more than 10,500 retaillocations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East andthe Pacific Rim. The Company is committed to offering the highestquality coffee and the Starbucks Experience while conducting itsbusiness in ways that produce social, environmental and economicbenefits for communities in which it does business. In addition to itsretail operations, the Company produces and sells bottledFrappuccino(R) coffee drinks, Starbucks DoubleShot(R) espresso drink,and a line of superpremium ice creams through its joint venturepartnerships. The Company's brand portfolio provides a wide variety ofconsumer products -- innovative superpremium Tazo(R) teas andexceptional compact discs from Starbucks Hear Music(TM) enhance theStarbucks Experience through best-of-class products. The Seattle'sBest Coffee(R) and Torrefazione Italia(R) coffee brands enableStarbucks to appeal to a broader consumer base by offering analternative variety of coffee flavor profiles.

This release includes a forward-looking statement regardingexpected future earnings per share. This forward-looking statement isbased on currently available operating, financial, and competitiveinformation and is subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actualfuture results and trends may differ materially depending on a varietyof factors including but not limited to, coffee, dairy and other rawmaterial prices and availability, successful execution of internalperformance and expansion plans, fluctuations in U.S. andinternational economies and currencies, the impact of initiatives bycompetitors, the effect of legal proceedings, and other risks detailedin the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,including the "Risk Factors" section of Starbucks Annual Report onForm 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 2, 2005. The Companyassumes no obligation to update this forward-looking statement.

(C) 2006 Starbucks Coffee Company. All rights reserved.