Good riddance! The last thing we need is more skunk piss Pike Place coffee and over-priced frappuccinos.

I can tell you that the one in my town is surely going. built in 07, and is always d.e.d. dead! I live in bum fucked egypt (bfe) where our taste buds must not have evolved to elitist status because we think their coffee SUX!

I'm not a big fan of Starbucks. That said, I don't hate their coffee either. I've always found it over-roasted and the varietals all have a similar flavor. In a pinch, I'll have a cup but I won't ever call the sizes anything other than 'small', 'medium', and 'large'.

That said, they have certainly over-saturated the marketplace.

My city has..for better or worse..stayed Starbucks-free; and I guess it will continue to stay so.

@ConsumptionJunkie: Tell us how you really feel.

In general I've never been a fan of SBUX coffee, but there are more burn-happy establishments out there. cough Tully's cough

I am kind of excited to see if SBUX's slowing will open up oppertunities for some of the more low-key shops to get a foothold.

I imagine that they're not going to be closing down the less-trafficked SBUX stores in the middle of nowhere, but rather one of the three medium-traffic stores on opposite corners from each other.

Seriously, didnt they think that perhaps not enough people can afford 4 dollar coffee?

I imagine the PHX area will be hit hard as you can't turn around in the East Valley with out bumping in to one (or two). Persoally can't wait for Dunkin Donuts to get their rear in gear and start their planned expansions.

Really? *cough* traffic whores *cough* posts like this really encourage me to keep reading.

Meh. I'd like to know which ones are closing. With my luck it'll be one of the ones I actually use. They should feel free to kill off the ones I don't frequent, though. It's all about meeeeeeeeee.

@Colage: That means that the one at the southwest tip of UCLA ain't going anywhere there. It's already competing with a Coffee Bean on Westwood, the Coffee Bean in Hillel, the Coffee Bean by Covel Commons on Campus, the three coffee shops operated by ASUCLA on campus, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Cafe where I can get a good cup for about $0.85, $0.75 if I get the regular blend and $0.70 if I bring my own mug.

You'd think that maybe it'd close down because of all the competition, but no, Westwood also supports a Pinkberry and a Pinkberry clone or two, a couple of ice cream shops, and a mess of clothes stores.

Individual stores will be notified by their district manager or regional director about 30 days prior to their anticipated closure, according to Starbucks officials.

That's kinda messed up. Knowing these people will be laid off, they should give them as much time as they can to look for other jobs.

I always laughed when I heard that Starbucks stores would open across the street from one another because studies showed that a whole segment of people wouldn't cross the street to go to one, but would go into one already on their side of the road. True or not, I never believed it a sound business decision.

@dohtem: I'm honestly surprised they're getting that much notice. Not because of any "Starbucks is an evil corporation!" reasoning, but just that I would've figured that they'd have closed them very quickly, with nothing to really liquidate.

Does anyone know which locations are more likely to close? As in, the freestanding ones or the ones inside Barnes & Noble/supermarkets/Target/etc.? In a 2-mileish radius in a shopping district around Mishawaka/Granger, Indiana, there is 1 freestanding location, and other locations in Meijer, Target, Martin's (local supermarket) and Barnes & Noble. Except for the Barnes & Noble one, most of the locations have been established in the last 1-2 years.

From what I remember, the Starbucks in bookstores/grocery stores/etc. are franchises, and don't count as "real" Starbucks.

Thirty days is shockingly long for hourly people. When I worked for Williams-Sonoma, they gave most of their call-in center no notice at all when they decided to move it to another state.

@badgeman46: $2. The largest coffee at SBUX costs $2.

So after this, they'll be down to only 10,000 locations?

@nequam: The most expensive drink at Starbucks.

So, the story here is that there is nothing new to report? Sounds like a very slow news day.

They should close all the ones in stores(B&N, Target, Dominick's, ect.) IMO. know they don't count as "real Starbucks" but seriously how many drinks do they make in a day? 15-20 not enough in my opinion to open up shop. Shit if you need a drink that bad you can swing by one on the way to the store. Half the time they even the a free standing Starbucks in the same strip as all of the stores. When they opened up shop in my Dominik's I was thinking WTF?! if you want it so bad why can't you walk down 2 Fing stores to get it?!

On a side note since when did you need to have a drink in hand to go shopping?! *color me confused*

Can we finally put to rest the snarky comment of Starbucks selling $4 or $5 cups of coffee? They have no such thing. What they sell for that price are essentially milkshakes that have coffee blended into them. That's been the bulk of Starbucks' business for the past several years... hardly anybody goes to a Starbucks to buy coffee-coffee.

@thewriteguy: The sad thing is people THINK they're drinking coffee. They would never call it a milkshake!

@boomshakla: Ah Meijer's. I kind of miss it. I used to wander the aisles in Mishawaka a decade ago when I had my bouts of insomnia. It amazed me then that you could pick up t.p., milk, and a gun all in one place. :D

GOOD! The beginning of the end for the Wal-Mart of Coffee. We DO NOT NEED 2 or more Starbucks on every corner of every city in America.

Now what we DO need more of is Kolache Factories! :) www.kolachefactory.com

half of the closing ones are probably in Manhattan.

Wow, Starbucks can do no right by that site.

Starbucks is actually giving their partners plenty of notice because they were all told several weeks ago if their store was going to be closing down or not. They also have set up severance packages for all partners if they stay through the store closing as well as assistance with finding another job...if they can not be placed in a different Starbucks.
They are doing much more than most companies would do.