Our History Is Based On Extending The

It's Different When You're Trying To Turn Something Around, Especially Something That You Built, At A Time When So Many Constituents - The Media, Wall Street, Competitors, Ex-employees - Are All Saying That Starbucks's Best Days Are Behind It, And That Schultz Is Never Going To Be Able To Bring It Back.

I Think People Will Walk Into The Starbucks Store And Overnight Recognize The Significant Difference Between What Starbucks Represents Day-in And Day-out And All The Other Coffee Companies That Have Been Serving Coffee In India For So Many Years.

Despite The Fact That Starbucks Has Grown To Be A Large Company. We've Always Played Music In Our Stores And Has Always Acted As An Opportunity To Create A Mood In Our Stores. And Customers Started Asking, "what Song Are You Playing And Can I Buy That?" . And We Said "no." And That Was Kind Of The Catalyst For Beginning To Look At Music. We Started Out With Our Own Compilations And After The Success Of That. We Had The Courage To Say, "let's Produce Our Own Record." And The First Record Was With Ray Charles Before He Unfortunately Passed Away.

I Realize That Idealism Is Out Of Sync With The Cynicism Of Our Age. Skepticism Has Come To Be Synonymous With Sophistication, And Glibness Is Mistaken For Intelligence. In Such An Atmosphere, Why Bother Aiming High? Far Too Many People Don't. I Just Want To Reassure People To Have The Courage To Persevere, To Keep Following Their Hearts Even When Others Scoff. Don't Be Beaten Down By Naysayers. Don't Let The Odds Scare You From Even Trying.

I Am Concerned About Any Attrition In Customer Traffic At Starbucks, But I Don't Want To Use The Economy, Commodity Prices Or Consumer Confidence As An Excuse.