SEATTLE — Starbucks is opening coffee shops at the rate of about 3 1/2 a day worldwide, and that figure could increase, chief executive Orin Smith told shareholders at the company's annual meeting Tuesday.

The long-term plan is to have about 25,000 stores worldwide -- more than triple the nearly 8,000 stores the coffee retailer has right now. And even that amount seems a little "light," according to Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz.

To accommodate those plans, the company, which already employs more than 80,000 people, is hiring 250 people a day, the executives told a packed house of thousands of shareholders.

"Both domestically and internationally, we probably underestimated the size of the global opportunity that we have," Schultz said in an interview after the meeting.

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The Seattle-based company's aggressive expansion plans go far beyond just coffeehouses. Starbucks' future will include making money on everything from bottled coffee drinks -- which the company hopes to start selling internationally within a year -- to music, the executives said.

As is usual for Starbucks, the meeting was more show-and-tell than sales figures. Against a set built to look like the first Starbucks store at Pike Place Market in Seattle, Schultz started things off by conducting a band of percussionists -- with Smith joining in on a massive pair of drums.

During the nearly three-hour meeting, several of the company's executives sang and danced -- literally -- in skits played on a large-screen projector. In one, Schultz was inserted into a David Letterman piece on "Top 10 Things You Don't Want to Hear From a Guy at Starbucks" (No. 6: "One Decaf Venti Skim Latte -- $39").

The crowd, which had feasted on pastries, lattes and other treats, was generally adoring, with one shareholder even suggesting the crowd begin a cheer for the company.

But two shareholders berated the company for not offering dividends. Smith and Schultz both said Starbucks is considering such a plan, but that its current growth rate means that it may need any cash on hand.

The meeting also featured a live performance by Emmylou Harris -- whose favorite songs will be on an upcoming Starbucks CD -- as well as acrobats, videos from executives and a testimonial from a longtime employee, roaster Tom Walters.

Recounting the changes in his 22 years with the company, Walters said: "I just can't believe there are so many Starbucks stores."