Starbucks to close 600 stores
 

Sorry everyone, you're going to have to walk an extra block to get coffee.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702/...ks_closings_18

You would think they would have learned from the Krispy Kreme debacle that super rapid expansion = bad.

Sad news for those who enjoy overpriced coffee.

I'm glad I'm not one of them! :D

Then why have they opened 2 stores within 2 blocks of my office, not including the other 4 within a 2-block radius?

For real, though...where are these stores being closed?

I have a feeling TPTB at Starbucks don't even know that yet.

I'm proud to be a Caribou Coffee fan, and I bet the people in their corporate offices are having a pretty nifty day. :D

33girl: Observing the Krispy Kreme debacle would've meant that the top brass at Starbucks was paying attention to the world. On a serious note, this is a HUGE clue on the times that are a-changing.

as long as its not the drive through joint that's near my house i'm o.k. i'm in a college town so we'll probably not see any locations shuttered...

however, i wonder how many of the minority owned / magic johnson partnership starbucks will be closing? there is one that's not near me, but i visit it when i'm commuting to work AND actually have time to stop.

According to Fox News, the epitome of fine journalism, over 70% of the stores closing are "underperforming stores that have opened after 2006."

so if youre store is relatively new, more than likely say bye-bye.

lord knows, NYC can afford to lose a couple locations. chances are theyll get replaced by DD or a Duane Reade. cause we surely need more of those. :rolleyes:

When I drank coffee, Caribou was my favorite. Starbucks always tasted burnt

For me Starbucks is an occasional treat, so I'm not too bummed.

So they are going to close 600 stores starting from late July until mid-2009.

YET...they are planning to OPEN 200 stores by 2009, and open around 400 stores by 2010/2011.

Ok Starbucks :rolleyes:

The article I read about it (I think on CNN) said that the stores that will close have been on their "watch list" for a year. They've been watching these stores to see if their sales would increase and they have not, so they are closing.

Closing some stores in areas where there is a glut of them and opening new ones in areas where there currently are none would still make sense from a business perspective. What doesn't make sense is that they opened so many so close to each other to begin with.

can only speak for here, but there are some locations that are crowded ALL the time. you can wait 15 minutes just to order. other locations have little sitting room and you can never get a seat. Maybe locations in close proximity aimed to relieve the wait.

now i know you may say, ugh, its only 15 minutes, but in the here and now era of folks who want their Venti Non-no blahdity blah, like, yesterday, its enough to almost need that many locations so everyone keeps their (coffee cup) lid on.

I use to manage a Caribou Coffee store, and I can definitely tell you that they are suffering worse than Starbucks. I do like Caribou Coffee better, but I moved a year ago to start grad school and there is no store in sight :(.

I have a number of Starbucks opening in my county and seeking employees. Good luck, Starbucks. Low paying retail/service jobs are played out around here.

This only applies to retail stores, right?

Because my campus has 2 Starbucks and God forbid we're left with only one. :p

Nah but seriously, it's about time.

I've never been to Starbucks but I really hope they don't get rid of the two Starbucks on South Shepherd and West Gray (right across the street from each other) in Houston. Can't help but think about Lewis Black's standup and laugh everytime I drive by.

I don't really like Starbucks coffee. It's way too strong.

If all of them closed I wouldn't miss them.:)

Naw, they are too busy training Palestinian suicide bombers to even notice.;)
http://www.snopes.com/business/alliance/caribou.asp

Sorry, but I couldn't resist.

Ha! That kills me too. I remember when I heard that Lewis Black routine and remembered driving by those 2 Starbucks all the time when I lived in Houston.

I don't drink coffee, but I used to get dragged to Starbucks with friends and the funny thing about those two locations across the street is that they have completely different clientele.

For those not familiar with Houston, these two Starbucks are in a commercial area that has River Oaks to the west (River Oaks being one of the two best neighborhoods along with Memorial Villages which are just to the west of River Oaks) and then Montrose to the east which used to be more of the artsy area and still is, but is also more young professionals now with the condos going in.

The Starbucks on the north side of West Gray is where all the River Oaks people go, and the one on the south is where the Montrose people go- notably some very freaky nasty lesbians who would smoke cigars on the patio.

So while it seems odd to have two locations so close together, it actually makes sense.

What has NEVER made sense to me is having 5 Starbucks in or within a block of the Galleria.

Either way, Starbucks is a fad and they sell a very unhealthy product for a high price. Even the food they sell is all horrifically bad for you. I have never invested in the company on moral grounds and also because I firmly believed that once we hit hard times, designer coffee would be the first thing to go and the company would tank hard and fast.

I won't miss them because I don't drink coffee at all, but I wonder if either of the two of them withing two minutes walk of my house will close.

From what I read initally, it seems like the majority (unfortunately) will be in Florida and California because that is where the biggest housing crisises (whatever the plural of that is) are taking place.

They do have too many on top of each other. At first there was one in the SuperTarget I used to work in. Then one near the movie theater two towns (down the road) over. It has a drive through and is 24 hours. Then they put one a street light down from the Target. Then one in the old mall (a bit further away). Then one in the new mall. Now that B&N has opened at the new mall, they have one too, but it's like right NEXT to the other one! You exit B&N, walk up, and cross the little road that goes through it! Same plaza!

I knew it was ridiculous when I saw a sign going up in East side of my city. The majority of the people who live there don't even drink coffee!!! (Did they do any research?) My sorority sister lives there and she said it looks like they're not even going to bother opening anymore though.

I can understand them closing a lot in Florida. During the last few years it seemed as if there over all planning/expansion plan was a little off. They would open 1 store just a few months after another in the same exact area. Not very smart....

My campus had a Starbucks and their were 4 other just across the street at the mall and another 2 and a Badd Ass just a few miles away.

Where I live they have been popping up left and right. A few years ago if I wanted Starbucks on the commute I had one store to choose from...I now have 4!

Actually Starbucks pays pretty well, at least around my area from what I've heard from friends (and friends of friends..lol).

I know my friend & her boyfriend were living together, each had their own job (he was a manager for Keva Juice, and she worked in a daycare), barely squeaking out a living. He moved to Starbucks to try and work up to manager (if he wasn't there already) and they were able to live off his income alone. And he kept about the same hours he did at Keva.

Yeah, that's the problem with how they expanded.

Most of the stores in Miami are pretty popular, but then there are some that are bordering lower-income neighborhoods and are in areas where people don't drink coffee. They should've done their research.

coffee is pretty universal. people drink coffee everywhere, whether its a $4 latte or a 50-cent cup from the cart, or even the Folgers they brew at home. its a matter of whether ppl are willing to pay Sbux prices and consistently enough.

If one went up in my neighborhood (in Queens), it wouldnt make money. not because they dont drink coffee, because they cant afford it. and Sbux intimidates the average Joe. (yes, i know you like my puns.) why screw up an order for a Grande Double Shot of whatever when you can order a Large coffee with cream and sugar at DD for a lot less and you know exactly what youre getting?

According to a local article I read, we only have 84 stores in Hawai'i and the bulk of them opened before 2006. I imagine the ones opened after 2006 are located in areas where rapid development's going on.

Starbucks and their partner company Jamba Juice are pretty big here -- and the stories are usually right next door to each other.

I get the feeling on a handful of stores might be affected, if any.

i thought Jamba Juice was owned by the folks who head up Chipotle. oh well.

I don't know anything about JJ corporate, so you may be right.

I think it might just be a Hawai'i thing.

Yeah, they pay pretty well for food service....part-time employees get health insurance, and they try to pay a living wage. As many justified complaints I hear about Starbucks, I'm quick to defend them over how they pay their employees.

Not sure about now, but at one point McDonald's owned Chipotle. I used to like eating there until I looked up the nutritional data online. Even the rice itself is loaded with fat from whatever they put on it to give it that appealing taste. Sadly enough, healthy as it seems, in some ways Chipotle is just as bad as fast food.

Talk about your irony
 

My co-worker and I went to AJC.com and saw the following headline:

"Man shot 4 times at Atlanta Starbucks"

It's not a funny situation, but reading that headline was hilariously ironic since we think some people may really nut up at the prospect of their area Starbucks closing. What really gets me is that this is one of the Magic Johnson-owned Starbucks, and I don't ever recall any negative incidents like this occurring in the MJ Starbucks before. :mad: :mad: :mad: However, it seems like the customer base there is not of the "stop snitching" variety.

A man was shot repeatedly by an apparent would-be assassin Wednesday night inside a southwest Atlanta Starbucks.

Witnesses say a gunman walked into the Cascade Road coffee shop and shot a man sitting at a table point-blank four times. A second man was also hit, apparently by a bullet that had ricocheted, said witness Karmen Sneed, who was also a customer.

Fulton County Police spokeswoman Kay Lester said the shootings took place at around 9:15 p.m. but didn't say whether the victims were targeted. The men's injuries were not life-threatening, she said.

http://www.ajc.com/wireless/content/...ucks_0703.html

Employees' get stock options as well. They really are a good business model for the service industry on how to treat their people.

McDonald's used to own Chipotle, as well as Boston Market.

Now, regarding Starbucks. In college I worked at two different Starbucks locations - in Bellevue, WA and Malibu, CA. That was before they went crazy with the Frappucinos and music, and still sold beans (NOT pre-packaged) in the stores. We had three frappucino options - coffee, mocha and espresso - and that was plenty. I'd like to see Starbucks do away with the sweet drinks they sell for non-coffee drinkers. If you don't like coffee or tea, you shouldn't go to Starbucks. They can go back to selling steamers, hot chocolate and OJ/apple juice for the kids, but that's it. And in my opinion they should go back to bagging beans in the stores; it was my favorite part of the job, and it kept customers engaged in Starbucks' coffee.

When Howard stepped down from heading the company, things went downhill. They tried to sell everything to everyone. Now he's back, and he's going back to what he founded the company on: coffee and community. They expanded too fast; those of you in the mid-west, south, east, etc. can't even fathom how many Starbucks stores we have in Washington, particularly the Seattle area. PLUS we have another big chain - Tully's - in addition to smaller local chains such as Caffe Ladro, Seattle's Best Coffee (now owned by Starbucks), Uptown Espresso. And then we have all the gas stations and corners with their own espresso huts outside. Starbucks isn't the most expensive of our options, but I'd rather buy a latte from Caffe Ladro because their espresso just tastes better to me, and when I walk into one of its stores I don't feel like I'm in a Jamba Juice or ice cream shop.

BTW, as someone else here said, Starbucks is a great company to work for. They really do care about their employees, they offer a full range of benefits for anyone who works at least part time, and the pay is good for retail. They also insist that their employees deserve respect from management, coworkers and customers. When I worked there, I once had a customer come in on a Sunday morning and march past the short line of people waiting patiently to demand from me a current scone. "I just want a current scone, and I don't want to wait in line," he shouted, and threw a couple dollar bills at me. I tried calmly explaining to him that he would need to wait his turn, as there were three people in front of him. "I DON'T WANT COFFEE, I JUST WANT MY CURRENT SCONE," he yelled. "And he just wants a newspaper, and she just wants a drip coffee," I said, "We don't have separate lines here, so you'll have to wait your turn." Well, the guy continued to huff and puff, and so the manager came over, asked the man what the problem was, he shouted at her that he shouldn't have to wait for a current scone because "IT'S RIGHT THERE IN THE CASE!" The manager had had enough, so she told the man that since he had abused the staff and other customers with his yelling, he wouldn't be getting the current scone at all - she asked him to leave.

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. it IS the drive-thru SB near my house. but thankfully the one right near campus, and the one beside my grocery store are o.k.
:(

They're closing 5 stores in Hawai'i. One on Maui, another on the Big Island, one that's only open 6 days a week and closes at 7 on weeknights, and 2 that are in a one block distance from each other (there are 2 SBUX remaining in that same complex).

Here is a link to the Starbucks site which lists all stores being closed:
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/pressdesc.asp?id=882

Seems as if only one in my neck of the woods is closing. No great loss to me; I feel for the workers however.

I still recall the very first, and just about only time, I was in a Starbucks.
And that was the very first, original store.

Looks like they're closing 4 stores on the "outskirts" of Arlington. Now we're left with 19 stores.

None of my close ones are closing!! Yay!! We must be heavy coffee drinkers around my area, because, no joke, there is one at just about every corner for about 5 miles and they are all staying open.

They're closing two here in Murfreesboro. But they're not closing MY Starbucks, so I'm good.

Mine is safe and sound where I live, but a few are closing in Columbus including one of my favorite locations.