Starbucks’ pick of Chicago to house its largest roastery underscores the city’s importance to the coffee giant, which in 1987 opened its first café outside of the Pacific Northwest at 111 W. Jackson St. in the Loop, a store that has since closed. Starbucks founder Howard Schultz has said Chicago was a gateway to broader expansion of the chain, which now has more than 14,000 stores in the U.S. and nearly 30,000 globally.