600 Starbucks to Close
Kiss your double espresso, third milk, third foam, cappuccino grande good bye.
by Jeff Davis
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer informs us: “Starbucks Corp. said Tuesday it will close 600 company-operated stores in the next year, up dramatically from its previous plan for 100 closures, a sign the coffee shop operator continues to struggle with the faltering U.S. economy and its own rapid expansion. Seventy percent of the stores slated for closure had opened after the start of 2006…To put it another way, Starbucks is closing 19 percent of all U.S. company-operated stores that opened in the last two years.”
Egads! Does that mean that Americans might have to re-adjust once more to a world wherein there is not a Starbucks on every corner? It’s the end of civilization as we know it!
Back to the PI: “About 12,000 workers, or 7 percent of Starbucks’ global work force, will be affected by the closings, which are expected to take place between late July and the middle of 2009…most of the employees will be moved to nearby stores… The 500 additional stores set to be closed had been on an internal watch list for some time. They were not profitable, not expected to be profitable in the foreseeable future, and the “vast majority” had been opened near an existing company-operated Starbucks.” (more…)