Starbucks is now open in Tbilisi: Georgia’s first store

Starbucks and Alshaya Group announced the Georgian market entry in April 2026, naming Axis Towers on Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue as the first site. The coffeehouse began serving customers in test mode on 3 July and officially opened on 13 July 2026. Alshaya’s opening release confirms that the first customers were welcomed at the Vake location and records the official ribbon-cutting.

This replaces the earlier “coming this summer” status. The March launch discussed in preliminary reporting had been postponed, but the revised summer plan was completed. Further expansion in Georgia remains a stated plan; individual future addresses and opening dates should still be treated as unconfirmed until announced.

Axis Towers sits on one of Vake’s busiest commercial stretches, close to offices, residences, hotels, gyms and established food-and-drink operators. It also gives the brand visibility with local professionals, international residents and visitors without requiring customers to travel to an out-of-town retail park.

The choice is symbolic too. Costa Coffee’s first Georgian branch opened on Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue in May 2025 and it later added a location at Axis Towers. Starbucks is therefore not arriving in an empty category. It enters a city already shaped by strong independent cafés, Georgian roasters and a newer layer of international chains.

Costa Coffee’s Georgia rollout gives useful context. Business Media Georgia reported that Costa entered in May 2025, added branches on Kazbegi Avenue and at Axis Towers, and was preparing a fourth Tbilisi branch. Starbucks’ arrival roughly a year later signals confidence in the depth of the city’s café market—but it does not mean Tbilisi was waiting for global chains to create a coffee culture.

Tbilisi’s café scene is already intensely local. Neighbourhood coffee bars compete on beans, design, pastry, laptop friendliness and personal service. Starbucks adds familiarity: a globally understood format, standard drink names and a predictable place for meetings. The interesting contest will be for routine, not novelty—where people choose to work for an hour, meet a client, or buy coffee on an ordinary weekday.

The first coffeehouse is open, but that does not confirm every detail of a wider Georgian rollout. Prices from Türkiye, Europe or Gulf markets are not reliable proxies because rent, licensing, tax, supply and market positioning differ. Check the current Georgian menu and store channel for live prices, hours and seasonal availability.

Further Georgian cities are part of the stated expansion plan, but locations and dates should be reported only when individually announced. A functioning first store is not evidence that every location mentioned in earlier negotiations will open on the same schedule.

A global chain can be comforting during the first weeks in a new city: ordering is familiar, Wi-Fi and seating expectations are legible, and the address is easy to share. For business visitors, it can become a neutral meeting landmark. For long-term residents, it is simply one more option within a much richer café map.

Our advice is to enjoy the arrival without allowing an international logo to replace discovery. Try Georgian coffee specialists, small bakeries and neighbourhood cafés as well. The best version of expat life is not recreating the city you left; it is keeping a few familiar anchors while learning the one around you.