Starbucks To Close 600 Stores, Cut Up To 12,000 Jobs
MSNBC says that Starbucks has announced that it will be closing 600 locations in the US and could eliminate up to 12,000 full and part-time jobs. Previously, the company had announced that it would close only 100 stores.
Reader gibson, who sent in the tip says:
Considering that there are THIRTY-TWO Starbucks within TWO miles of my house, this news seems inevitable. Seriously, 32 Starbucks within a 2 mile radius?! ...Welcome to Portland, Oregon!
You know, people say the roaches and rats in New York are bad— but since I moved here I've seen more Starbucks locations than both of them combined, and I take the subway.
Starbucks to close 600 stores in the U.S. [MSNBC]
(Photo: Travelin' Librarian )
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Comments:
I would hope that this means other coffee shops have a chance, but it probably just means that the coffee industry in general is stagnant or in decline.
@samurailynn: It probably means that people are thinking more about the $5 coffee at Starbucks, and reconsidering the $1 coffee at Dunkin' Donuts, or the free coffee at work. Considering the proliferation of Starbucks coffee shops, I doubt anyone is going out of their way to find a cup.
Coffee sucks, stores every half block.
I mean really, who didn't see this coming?
If you go to their store locator page, type in 40 w 52nd street in NY, there are 212 within 5 miles.
I know that a lot of you are going to go on about burnt $7 cup of coffee or what not but think about it... 12,000 people are going to lose their jobs. That sucks. Regardless of what you feel about their product, they treated their workers very well. I've known a lot of people who work/ed for them. Aside from them offering health care to those who just work 20 hours, they have other great benefits.
Oh, and speaking of $7 coffee...
Their "cup of coffee" is just $1.72- yes, that's a lot but it's only like a .20 difference from the 711 coffee.
Oh man! I feel so sorry for all those snooty "baristas" no longer able to berate for not knowing the correct word for the various size cups.
My favorite NYC Starbucks locations are the Astor Place and the Cooper Union Starbucks. They're literally a few steps from each other.
Like a busload of lawyers at the bottom of the ocean, this is a good start.
That's ok - I'm back in the land of Tully's. :) I feel bad for the employees who will lose their jobs. But it doesn't really affect me since I now have Tully's to go to.
YES YES YES, please let a good portion of those be in SF. 72 stores in San Francisco and the city is only 42 square miles. We have lost so many good coffee shops since Starbucks infection took hold.
[sarcasm]
Cue the riots in the streets of Seattle.
I wonder what the employee turnover is. They may not have to lay all that many people off if they reduce via atrition.
[/sarcasm]
they flooded the market, that bubble was bound to pop. i wonder if the people picking the coffee will get laid off or paid less, i don't see how it's possible, they only get paid a few dollars a week at the height of the starbucks empire.
At my most recent visit to the SB in Pahrump NV, I asked for a tall drip. The barista paused, then said to me, "so you want a small coffee then." YES!
I know it's all fun to hate on big evil Starbucks, but I'm gonna be sad if mine closes because I'm going to miss the people. The baristas there are like family - a lot of them have been working there for years (one girl got a job there when she started college and we saw her graduate a couple months ago), we all know each other by name, and they turn what might otherwise be a soulless corporate store into a pleasant place to go get coffee and hang out. Some of them are talented musicians and artists working there to make some money while they try to pursue their art. "Starbucks" might be cold and by the numbers, but MY Starbucks has a human element that I don't care to lose.
@bcash: The other day I was walking in the financial district near embarcadero. I saw a starbucks across the street, and was thinking of grabbing one of those iTunes music cards that they're giving away. It was directly across from me, but there was a lot of active traffic. I turned back to walk down the sidewalk, and not fifty feet away was another Starbucks on my side. I could literally stand at one Starbucks, and throw stuff and hit the other one. And, they were both big Starbucks. Neither was the tiny "closet with a counter" stores.
I can't help but think of all the capital Starbucks wasted opening all these useless redundant stores to begin with.
I forget the intersection, but somewhere in Vancouver: two Starbucks enter, one Starbucks leaves. Whose cuisine reigns supreme?
@S3CT: Seriously? Take that shit to Ain't It Cool News.
@chucklebuck: You're not alone there. I don't go to Starbucks regularly enough to be recognized, but I've seen baristas smile and call out to their customers by name...sometimes by their usual order! If that's not customer service, someone please tell me what is.
@samurailynn: Starbucks' negative impact on the local coffee shop is a myth. Consider this scenario: you have a choice between a Starbucks and a delicious indie shop next door. Which do you enter?
Starbucks has done great things for the industry. Perhaps their greatest contribution was, all at once, attracting new drinkers and giving them an "evil" corporation to hate.
@drjayphd:
Robson and Thurlow (?) 2 Starbucks across the street from each other - I believe there was an indie coffee shop (cafe) on one of the remaining corners
Finally.
They are trying to avoid the mind blowing situations of having a Starbucks across from a Starbucks... Only the redundantly redundant Starbuckes will be closed.
People like to make fun of the stores across the street from each other, but it was actually a good idea when they first did it. Adding stores in really high traffic areas improved sales because it shortened lines at the already existing store and more people bought Starbucks instead of leaving because of the lines. I think the problem was that they took an idea that worked well in some places and started applying it to areas that just didn't have quite enough traffic, and so they started to cannibalized themselves.
I guess people are trading their java for texas tea. (gas prices). But that'll learn 'em for opening stores within pissing distance. As for the lost jobs, it was inevitable due to over saturation. Sorry.
Won't somebody please think of the baristas!? The baristas!!
Are we really sure society is prepared for scores of unemployed smug faux hipsters running around? What will happen to the cultural tapestry if we, as consumers, aren't subsidizing ironic facial hair and plastic rimmed fashion glasses?!
Sucks for the people out of work, especially in this economy. I hope they have skills other than coffee-making.
Lewis Black must be having a field day with this news:
Has anybody heard that Lewis Black bit about the end of the universe being the Starbucks that is across the street from the other Starbucks? So funny. And the funniest thing is, that bit is based on a real situation in Houston, Texas, where, there is in fact a Starbucks across the street from another Starbucks. I used to sometimes go to one in the morning, and then the other one in the evening. I could pick and choose depending on my mood. So sad. So ridiculous.
@bl8675309: I've got two right across the street from each other at 8817 and 8844 S. Sepulveda. I'm taking bets on which will close first: the one on the way TO the airport, or the one on the way FROM the airport?
7-11 coffee sucks. So does DD. So does McD's.
Starbucks opens stores across the street because studies have shown that eastbound drivers won't turn around for a westbound coffee shop. Happens to indies as well.
Sorry to see so many losing their jobs.
And to all you "indies are the best" haters: Go suck a coffee bean, bitches.
The Edgewood Retail District, a mixed use development in Atlanta featuring a Lowe's, a Best Buy, and other big box stores, has a Starbucks inside Kroger, a Starbucks inside Barnes and Noble, a Starbucks inside Target, and a free standing Starbucks. Nuff said.
Hey,Starbucks had a nice run,treated their employees better than many and prooved you could have a movie star latte in places other than LA.
BUT,the average American consumer doesn't make the LA movie star money.Instead on improving their offerings to include a cheaper menu Starbucks simply got greedy and saturated the market.They gorged on the yuppie scum wanna bes whose reality has set in.Throw in some good old fashion competition and you almost have a flash in the pan.Said it before,Starbucks is to coffee as what Krispy Kreme is to donuts:they had their run,were they over priced and are now struggling for their share.
What part of it's really only a dollars worth of coffee don't they get.GOOD LUCK to the employees who lost their jobs.They can thank the greedy execs for both their employement AND unemployement.
I have 4 within the same mall... and its a small mall...
Woo Woo! All aboard the bankruptcy train!
Starbucks...the SUV of coffee....
And yet they are building # 4 near me. But don't fret if one of the 3 in my town isn't up to par you can go down 2 miles and have your selection of 2 more at the mall it's a outdoor mall so naturally they need one on each side. Gee I can't imagine why they are closing any?! lol
Okay, so how many of you actually go to Starbucks? Not many I'm guessing. The hipster baristas you guys are all hating on... yeah, they left the company like 7-5 years ago when the company started to get too big. They either got "real" jobs or now works for the idie mom and pop coffee shops. Want to know why indie shops taste better? They got their training from Starbucks. If you go into your average Starbucks now, they look just like you and me.
I think a lot of people in this forum are just spitting out tired cliches. How ignorant. I for one, miss the hipsters. They took pride in their work and the drinks were great.
Oh, and hate to burst anyone's bubble but the Starbucks that are right across the street from another Starbucks- they're probably staying. My guess is that they're planning on closing suburban Starbucks that are in neighborhoods effected the most by the whole housing debacle.
600? That's 8% of their US stores. That's a lot of lease penalties to eat.
I used to work for a very small chain of coffee/bagel shops in New England, and there was a period of time where Starbucks was opening stores across from or next to pretty much every store my company owned.It was annoying and discouraging, as the novelty of Starbucks detracted from our business so much that ir forced us to close several of our stores.
But now there is one in the city I live in, and they seriously placed it in the worst possible location, which kind of amuses me.
@consumersaur: What's the opposite of a faux hipster, a vrai hipster? Contrast and discuss (7 points).
Yeah, it may be a high % but I have to think this might have been reasonably foreseen in their business model. Build, accelerate, etc. Even after they reach this point they've plundered gosh knows how many potential competitors by leasing their space.
Starbucks won't even feel it. It's a correction.
600? That is a good start. Just about 3 billion to go.
Furst!