Starbucks has made a major announcement that it plans to close 250 stores by the end of the week.
The shuttering of “underperforming” locations - which have not been disclosed - is part of CEO Brian Niccol’s plan to make service faster and friendlier, the coffee chain said in a post Thursday.
Starbucks said it had “identified locations where we do not believe we can consistently deliver the experience we want for customers and partners or where we don’t see a path to acceptable financial performance.”
The closures represent approximately 1 percent of Starbucks’ roughly 18,000 North American stores.
Starbucks is the largest coffee chain in the United States and its North American locations are also in the Caribbean, Canada, Costa Rica, and Mexico.
Reddit users largely panned the move, with one alleged employee claiming their store was given one day’s notice of its closing. Support, as well as criticism of the company, poured in.
“Closing with one-day notice is such an a****** move,” one user wrote.
The latest round of closures comes a year after Starbucks closed 627 stores in North America and Europe and laid off 900 non-retail staff.
The company hired Niccol in September 2024 to rescue what it felt was a foundering ship.
It struggled through a union fight with employees, stumbling locations in China, a mobile app that was overwhelming stores and negative year-on-year sales for the first time since 2020.
Niccol’s influence has been unmistakable. Widespread layoffs and store closures have happened multiple times during his tenure after no such moves during predecessor Laxman Narasimhan's 17-month tenure as CEO.
The layoffs and closures, along with store-level changes that include how orders are taken and customers are treated, have helped the company post four consecutive quarters of sales growth after six straight quarters of decline.
“Our North America business has returned to strong growth,” Mike Grams, Starbucks’ chief operating officer wrote. “Customers are receiving faster service, a more consistent experience, and warmer, more welcoming coffeehouses.”
With reporting from Associated Press
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