Starbucks (SBUX) is reportedly in talks to open stores in Italy.
Starbucks is in talks with Antonio Percassi, an Italian businessman, to bring its stores to the country. Percassi company owns a cosmetics chain and also helped bring L Brands’ (LB) Victoria’s Secret to Italy. A deal between SBUX and Percassi is expected to be singed by Christmas, reports Reuters.
Starbucks’ attempt to open stores in Italy could turn out good for it, but analysts are unsure. While the country is one of the major coffee consumers in Europe, it also treats the drink differently. Locals are used to drinking small shots of coffee that cost quite a bit less than SBUX’s offerings, Reuters notes.
If Italy doesn’t take well to Starbucks’ coffee, the company could have another Australia on its hands. Attempts to opens locations down under failed as the chain wasn’t able to pull traffic away from local cafes and McDonald’s (MCD) McCafe, which is the largest coffee chain in the country, reports Bloomberg.
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