what is an example of an sme 
in 1971 a company called starbucks opened its first store in seattle s historic pike place market 25 at the time it might have been able to claim to be an sme but with starbucks locations now all over the world the company can no longer make that claim that option has passed to other coffee shops such as lighthouse roasters an independent and locally owned coffee roaster with a single address in seattle lighthouse roasters is considered an sme 26