Starbucks retail stores located outside of North America, the United Kingdom, Thailand and Australia are operated through a number of joint venture and licensing arrangements with prominent retailers. During fiscal 2000, the Company expanded its international presence by opening 184 new international licensed stores, including the first stores in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Hong Kong and Shanghai. At fiscal year end, the Company had 154 stores in Japan, 47 in Taiwan, 28 in China, 28 in Singapore, 27 in the …showed first 75 words of 421 total…

…showed last 75 words of 421 total…on-line. Starbucks publishes and distributes a mail order catalog that offers its coffees, certain food items and select coffee-making equipment and accessories, and the Company maintains a web site at www.starbucks. com with an on-line store that allows customers to browse for and purchase coffee, gifts and other items via the Internet. The Company believes that its direct-to-consumer operations support its retail store expansion into new markets and reinforce brand recognition in existing markets.