After more than a decade of sensational buzz, Starbucks is struggling nationwide as it faces slowing sales growth and increased competition. The man who built the chain, Howard D. Schultz, has retaken the reins in an effort to revive it. He is scheduled to roll out a plan on Wednesday that will almost certainly involve shutting down more stores in the United States while accelerating expansion overseas.

Mr. Schultz has said he wants to refocus on the "customer experience," recapturing some of the magic of the chain's early years, when employees -- who had heard the term barista before Starbucks came along? -- made the drinks by hand and customers were excited by top-notch coffee.

Mr. Schultz faces a difficult task: He has to slow down the company to make stores feel more like hip neighborhood coffeehouses while also delivering the steady growth that investors have come to expect from Starbucks. Can he pull it off?

Details of Mr. Schultz's plan remained under wraps on Tuesday. Officially, he has not given up the goal of opening 40,000 stores worldwide, which no food or beverage chain has ever achieved. Wall Street will be watching closely on Wednesday to see how he reconciles that plan with the need to close some stores and refocus the business in the United States.