Starbucks Community Store No. 9 Opens... "Launching National Heritage Protection Activities"

300 KRW per product sold to create a heritage protection fund
"Will donate a fund worth 1 billion KRW over 5 years"

Starbucks Korea will renovate the ‘Starbucks Hwanggudan Branch’ in Jung-gu, Seoul, as its 9th Community Store on the 11th and begin full-scale national heritage protection activities.

Along with the opening ceremony of the 9th Community Store, Starbucks held a signing ceremony at the Starbucks Hwanggudan Branch with the Cultural Heritage Administration and the Cultural Heritage National Trust to establish a national heritage protection fund by donating 300 KRW from the sale of each product sold at the store, while also launching various national heritage protection activities.

Based on this agreement, Starbucks will carry out various national heritage protection activities including ▲establishing a national heritage protection fund ▲exhibiting purchased national heritage items ▲providing scholarships to students at the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage ▲operating volunteer activities to protect the five major palaces in Seoul and national heritage sites across the country.

At the event, Starbucks announced plans to donate a total of 1 billion KRW over the next five years to the national heritage protection fund. Since 2015, Starbucks has steadily donated approximately 1.1 billion KRW over 10 years under the name of the national heritage protection fund.

Following this agreement, Starbucks plans to deliver annual donations of about 200 million KRW to the Cultural Heritage Administration and the Cultural Heritage National Trust, an amount increased from before. This donation will be raised by combining the funds collected at the 9th Community Store with sales proceeds from specially planned products such as the Liberation Day MD.

Starbucks also promised to continue its activities of purchasing and donating national heritage items. On this day, Starbucks donated three items, including the handwritten calligraphy “Ishinyangseong (cultivating the mind and nurturing a righteous character)” by Wi Chang O Se-chang, one of the 33 national representatives, to the Cultural Heritage National Trust.

With this, the total number of national heritage items donated by Starbucks to the Cultural Heritage National Trust has reached ten. Starting in 2015 with the handwritten calligraphy relic “Jonsimyangseong” by Baekbeom Kim Gu, Starbucks has also donated “Gwangbokjoguk (2016),” “Yakyokgaejosahoe Seonjagaejoagung (2019)” by Dosan Ahn Chang-ho, “Cheonhawigong (2020)” by Baekbeom Kim Gu, “Jeondaebeomnyun (2022)” by Manhae Han Yong-un, “Yujipilseong (2023),” and “Jiseonggamcheon (2023)” by Baekbeom Kim Gu to the Cultural Heritage National Trust.

A new program supporting future leaders in national heritage protection will also be introduced. Over the next five years, Starbucks will select about ten students annually from the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage to provide scholarships and support their activities.

Additionally, based on this agreement, Starbucks will expand the scale of the ‘National Heritage Keeper’ volunteer activities, in which Starbucks partners directly participate, and broaden the activity sites to include the five major palaces in Seoul as well as major national heritage sites nationwide.

Since 2009, Starbucks has maintained various activities through an agreement with the Cultural Heritage Administration for the National Heritage Keeper program. Over the past 15 years, about 3,000 partners have participated in activities at Deoksugung Palace alone, and more than 1,200 partners have taken part in regional cultural property preservation activities nationwide, demonstrating the company-wide interest and continuous efforts in national heritage protection.

Following this agreement, Starbucks plans to continue activities to raise awareness and encourage public interest in protecting Korea’s national heritage.

Choi Eung-cheon, Commissioner of the Cultural Heritage Administration, said, “The cooperation project with Starbucks for the National Heritage Keeper program demonstrates new sustainability in governance and ESG models in the national heritage sector,” adding, “We expect it to become a heritage community store where people, culture, and space can communicate and coexist through national heritage and coffee.”

Kim Jong-gyu, Chairman of the Cultural Heritage National Trust, expressed gratitude, saying, “We thank Starbucks for continuously supporting the preservation of precious independent cultural heritage,” and added, “We will ensure that the value of Korea’s cultural heritage is well conveyed to future generations.”

Brady Brewer, CEO of Starbucks International, said, “Starbucks Korea continues to lead impactful innovation through nine Community Stores by promoting youth employment, improving disability awareness, and fostering regional coexistence,” and added, “We are proud to commemorate Korea’s rich national heritage and to continue supporting its preservation.”

Son Jeong-hyun, CEO of Starbucks Korea, stated, “Starting with the opening of the 9th Community Store, we expect the sincere series of activities Starbucks has carried out over the past decade for national heritage protection to expand further,” and said, “Going forward, Starbucks will spare no effort to raise company-wide interest in national heritage protection and support more people to share this commitment.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.