Caribou Coffee Shutting Down 88 Locations, Turning 80 More Into Peet’s Coffee & Tea

Fans of Caribou Coffee might want to start loading up on caffeine now, as the Minnesota-based company confirmed today that it’s closing down 88 locations around the U.S. A further 80 will undergo a rebranding makeover and re-emerge as Peet’s Coffee & Tea sometime in the next year or so.

“Over the past few months, we at Caribou have revisited our business strategy, including closely evaluating our performance by market to make decisions that best position us for long-term growth,” the company said in a written statement, via KARE News.

The 88 under-performing stores will be going away quite soon — April 14 is D-Day for those stores, but there’s no list identifying which locations will be shuttered.

Stores getting a makeover are scattered across Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin.

“We look forward to continuing to deliver extraordinary experiences to our guests and fans, and thank everyone for their passion and commitment to Caribou,” the company added.

Perhaps the worries about underperformance had something to do with Caribou’s decision not to be best friends with JCPenney. Opening up new locations inside a struggling department store chain might not have been seen as a wise move as the company was in the midst of gearing up to close a bunch of other stores.

Caribou to close 80 stores, rebrand another 88 [KARE-11 News]

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