- Starbucks announced on September 24 the closure of nearly 250 North American stores.
- Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams revealed the company reviewed its portfolio and identified underperforming locations.
- The store closures are set to take effect later this week.
Your neighborhood Starbucks run may soon become a thing of the past.
While the popular coffee franchise is known to have thousands of stores across the U.S., in a recent press release Mike Grams, the brand’s chief operating officer, disclosed plans to shutter hundreds of locations.
“We have carefully reviewed our North America coffeehouse portfolio and 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,” Grams said. “As a result, we will close approximately 250 coffeehouses later this week.”
At the time of this story, Starbucks has not disclosed which of its more than 18,000 North American coffeehouse locations will be closing; however, Grams did note that the company is working to support the transition.
“Closing any coffeehouse is a difficult decision, and we know today’s news will be hard for the partners, customers and communities affected,” he said. “We’re speaking directly with impacted partners and will support them through this transition, including transfer opportunities wherever possible.”
Despite the news of the coming closures, there are reportedly still plans for Starbucks’s expansion in the future.
“We are actively developing a strong pipeline of new coffeehouses and remain committed to growth in North America,” Grams said.
