Starbucks To Close 600 U.S. Stores

SEATTLE — Starbucks Corp. has announced it's closing 600 underperforming stores in the United States.

The Seattle-based premium coffee company also announced Tuesday it expects to open fewer than 200 new company-operated stores in the United States in fiscal 2009.

The company says it will try to place workers from closed stores in remaining Starbucks.

Comments

[RoSull]

Will They be releasing the names of the locations that are closing down?

[coldcanuckinwhite]

Feel sorry for the employees, but prefer Tim Horten's guys!

[blackhappy]

Now THAT's coffee. :)

I really wish we'd get a Tim Horton's here in Washington.

[Tages72]

I don't even drink coffee, but those I know who do always commented how expensive the java went over there. For a while it was the "in" thing to do. Starbucks was to coffee what Krispy Kreme was to donuts. Now I hear that Dunkin' Donuts and even McDonald's are coming out with better tasting products.

The only ones I feel sorry for here are the employees. It's like the bubble is bursting in all business sectors, one by one.

[ResearchGuy]

Our local McD's some time ago moved to the new coffee blend. It is pretty good -- much better than the weak, tasteless brew they used to sell.

[carrion]

Starbucks. Corporate. Job terminated 06/04/08. Retail North Aemerica. Design.

Qweequag, floating atop the coffin of first mate's Starbuck's coffin. Melville never had it so good.

Ah, the blissful gentle lapping of waves, a little downtime from all the hype.

Store Dervelopment invited arthur rubinfeld back to officially conduct the last rites. Fitting. If anyone could pull Starbucks out of the big dive, it would be Arthur. Unfortunately, this was not on anyone's serious list of expectations. Even before he left the first time, Toto had pulled the curtain away from the Arthur Rubinfeld masquerade (which was why he left).

Zoom to present. Starbucks is now in funereal mode, and Arthur's re-emergence in Store Development is poignant, but it's clear he just came back to help carry the coffin. Starbucks is dead in the US. It's only a matter of time before the brain sends a final message to the international nervous system.

Ah, floating on Starbucks' coffin. I saw a cormorant a few hours ago, but I failed to catch it.

c.

[Chuckwheat]

They'd better not mess with Starbucks at Burning Man's Center Camp Cafe.

[londubh]

The problem is caffeine isn't addictive enough. Even though Starbucks brewed theirs at double strength. They ought to put nicotine in their coffee (cause that's legal) and they'll have to open 1200 stores.

[marlainWA]

Our economy is in the tank....we will see if people vote for their own interests this time or believe the propaganda from the media again.

[johnqsittinzen]

"Starbucks to close 600 stores."

And that's just in Hoboken.

[walsh]

BBC says 500 stores are closing down??? Huff says 600. Who's right?

[herbert68]

NPR said today Starbucks closes those 500 AND 600 additional stores! A total of 12,000 people (!) will loose their jobs ...

[Moka11]

Starbucks and it's "culture" that they market has been grossly overated and remarkably mass produced. Their coffee is abysmal to me. It was doomed to slowly collapse. I am saddened for all the employees affected.

[kellygrrrl]

I am very sad for the employees

this company has been a great employer for a lot of young people I know

[nancytheragingliberal]

The workers will lose out,for sure. Their prices were way over the top though.

[speakingtruth2power]

It is now a race between total economic collapse and war with Iran, that

will determine the need to declare martial law and suspend the elections.

Either major catastrophe will be reason enough to begin BushCo's fascist

plans for privatization, profiteering & promulgation via, the Shock Doctrine.

[aristippe]

wall paper the house with tinfoil yesterday, seems to be working

[FrictionSoul]

You obviously haven't read the Military Commissions Act of 2007. It grants Bush the powers to do exactly what speakingtruth2power wrote, and then some.

[speakingtruth2power]

The water is always tepid to denialist frogs.

[BigFootJesus]

Look up Directive 51.

[bikerdude]

Did you remember to ground it?

[Deeg]

Easy there. Things are kinda crappy right now, but we are still predominately a nation of laws and a remarkably stable society. Martial law would not be supported by our military and even the spineless leaders in the senate and house wouldn't stand for it. The Bush desecration of our nation over the past 8 years has slightly waken us up, martial law would unequivocally shock us all awake and to action.

Relax, only about 6 more months to go.

[SoonerThought]

I love most of their coffee, but now that my fav order costs about the same as a gallon of gas, so something had to give...sorry Starbucks.

[mamacat]

600 stores amounts to about 12 per each of the 50 states. There is a good chance that most people will have a hard time even finding a store that has been shut down.
Their recent move to retrain employees was a good one. It is important to keep up the brand name.

[wadenelson1]

So four apiece in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, two in Taos, and one apiece in Las Cruces and Roswell?

I think people will notice.

This is 6000 more workers out of jobs. Not buying cars, ....

Corporations need to put CONTINUED EMPLOYMENT ahead of quarterly profits, otherwise we're all gonna sink. They're not just laying off employees, they're laying off CONSUMERS.

[alieninvader]

Unfortunately, it's a systematic problem. The laws state that Starbucks and all public companies put their responsibilities to the shareholders above any other business decisions. In other words, Starbucks would probably be breaking the law if they didn't close down the stores. Our country will continue to go down the tubes as long as this law remains on the books.

[aristippe]

Can employees of Starbucks afford cars

[BillN]

Another classic example of the short-sightedness of the corporatists. By sending jobs overseas, or eliminating them for the sake of saving a buck, they put people out of work. Unemployed (or economically-distressed) people don't purchase big ticket items like cars, big screen TVs, or appliances, nor do they sip lattes.

The "corporations first" crowd are so focused on the bottom line and shareholder value, that they fail to look up and realize that their ship is headed for an iceberg. They can't survive without customers. Even Henry Ford, in the early 20th century, was wise enough to realize that he needed to pay his auto workers a wage that would allow them to buy his product.

Congratulations, corporate America... your plan to eliminate your US market, and your most loyal customer base, is nearly complete!

[anfractuous]

Fortunately, they're all on the same block.

[kjdwyer]

bah-doomp-BAH!

I knew I was too late to make that joke.

[gro]

Yes, there are two on the same block in downtown Salem, OR.
It's called market saturation.

[theblueAmerican]

I guess this means that the Starbucks that is in my house is going to close. Now I will have to go back and make my own coffee.