|
|
Starbucks Sings
As Starbucks Corp. has expanded its merchandise inside its stores to music and entertainment products, some have questioned the company's commitment to coffee-related retail items.
In a question and answer session following the company's annual meeting Wednesday, Chairman Howard Schultz said the company sees a "significant" opportunity to tell a stronger coffee story and link that back to the home."
Schultz had suggested a stronger focus on coffee-related items inside Starbucks stores is necessary in a memo to executives leaked last month.
Although Schultz and Chief Executive Jim Donald didn't give details, Schultz said that the company "will create more storytelling with merchandise."
Donald added that when the company introduces its spring product line, the "coffee story will come to life in merchandise."
Also during the question session with shareholders, Schultz said the company will continue to work with the government of Ethiopia on an agreement involving trademark and branding issues for coffee grown in that country.
"We're highly conscious and sensitive to the issues and we will do the right thing that at the end of the day will be pro-farmer," Schultz told shareholders.
Ethiopia is seeking to trademark the names of its most famous coffee regions that appear on the packaging of Starbucks and other coffee roasters.
SIR PAUL McCARTNEY has confirmed he'll be the first artist to sign to a new joint record label formed by coffee chain Starbucks and the Concord Music Group.
The former BEATLE's as-yet-untitled new album will be released on the new label, Hear Music, in June (07).
McCartney says, "This is something I've been working on for a little while now." And he insists his first album for the new label will be one of his best: "A lot of it's very personal to me. The songs are in some ways a little bit retrospective. Some of them are of now, some of them hark back to the past, but all of them are songs I'm very proud of." The coffee chain's profile as a music retail outlet spiked in 2005 when the company's RAY CHARLES duets compilation, GENIUS LOVES COMPANY, became a chart-topping sensation and picked up eight Grammy Awards.
The new label has also struck deals to release upcoming projects by ALANIS MORISSETTE and BOB DYLAN.
|
|
