Luckin Coffee Inc. (LKNCY.US) on Sunday announced its launch of a new large-store format with its first Origin Flagship shop in the South China city of Shenzhen. The two-story store, Luckin’s 30,000th, has 420 square meters of space – far bigger than most of its current stores that use a compact format with little or no seating area.
The vast majority of Luckin’s stores are in its home China market, but it has recently expanded overseas with stores in the U.S., Singapore and Malaysia. Its overseas stores numbered 118 at the end of last September.
The company was also reportedly trying to expand its global footprint through a potential acquisition of Costa Coffee, owned by Coca Cola (KO.US). But those discussions ultimately failed to produce a deal, according to earlier media reports. In December Luckin was also considering a bid for Blue Bottle Coffee, owned by Nestle (NESN.SW), according to other media reports.
Luckin’s size is still smaller than the 41,118 stores for larger rival Starbucks (SBUX.US) at the end of last year, including 8,011 stores in China. Chinese rival Cotti Coffee, established by Luckin’s former co-founders, currently has more than 14,000 stores in 28 countries, according to its website.
Luckin’s stock fell 0.5% on Monday in New York. The shares are up about 26% over the last 52 weeks.
By Doug Young
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