Starbucks begins to notify stores targeted for closure

An official list of the locations hasn't been released, but Starbucks says it expects to announce which cafes are up for closure in early April. If you know for sure of stores that are closing, please post them here. || Read "Starbucks begins to notify cafes targeted for closure" || Jump to the second page of comments.

Comments

[Christin]

by early April they really mean the 1st, the list will be posted tomorrow according to my sources.

My store will be closing but still don't know when. Some stores will be closed by the end of April but mine is not one of those.

[Bobby Ailer]

A store in BC, Canada is closing on Wednesday.

[Bobby Ailer]

http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/30032009/3/finance-business-starbucks-announces-first-canadian-closing-richmond-b-c.html

[STARBUCKS GOSSIP WEBMASTER]

Here's a shorter URL for the above story. (Please use tinyurl.com or is.gd to shorten your URLs before posting stories.)

http://is.gd/pUkf

[Sbuxlackey]

My store got the word Monday. Romeoville, IL

[ex-lattewizard]

sorry to hear that Sbuxlackey - i used to work in your district.

[Lisa Suender]

One of the stores in Ripon Ca. was notified yesterday their store is closing. Community is stunned and contacting DM and Corporate. Local paper is also getting involved.In a town of 15,000 this a major community hub and meeting place. This store does everything in the community. Makes no sense!

[BuxBuster]

I only wish that top management were told they were going to lose their jobs sometime in the future and then leave them dangling for months with no information. What a bunch of creeps!

[beantheredonethat]

Top management could care less about what store partners or ssc partner think. They could care less if you are left dangling with your life in limbo/turned upside down.

Their job is to make money for shareholders, not partners who own beanstock, but the big institutional investors. Given they are not making money for their biggest shareholders, is it any wonder they do not care about regular partners...

[Going! Going! Gone!]

Respect and dignity doesn’t really matter anymore at Starbucks does it? As a partner of a store that isn’t closing (yet), I won’t ever forget how horribly my fellows were treated.

[redcup]

my gigantic pet peeve: starbuck's (it's the c.b.c.! please spell correctly)

of course in hindsight, it doesn't matter considering the subject she's reporting

five days? that's harsh

[Shift Supervisor]

It is really sad that Starbucks is showing less and less concern for the partners that made Starbucks what it is....excuse me WAS!!! My store just hired a new person that started today. But there are stores in my area that are closing. Why hire new people when we have current partners that are needing to be placed because their stores are closing? Some sorry to say should be gone but there are a lot that are VERY GOOD Barista's and Leads. Is that how good partners are appreciated and respected.
Also I was advised today that if EVERY SINGLE customer is not greeted as soon as they walk in the door we can and will be verbally warned and then written up and so on. Starbucks is getting really super petty but do they do anything about some of these lazy store managers and DM's? Or the SM's and DM's that treat their partners with dis-respect. If we treated our partners like the SM's and DM's treat us we would be out of a job so fast but they can get away with it.
HELLO WELCOME TO HELLBUCKS!

[me]

Shift supervisor, are you serious? If this goes on we will pretty soon have a text been posted on the register screens what exactly to say to a customer. And if you don't say it exactly the way they print it we'll be fired. They are just making up a ton of new stupid rules to get people written up and fired easier.

Back to the topic. I haven't heard of any stores closing in the Toronto area. We are still expanding.

[Andy]

Come on, every single customer should be greeted when coming in. It's not like you have to be a robot, just welcome them to the "third place". It's the first step in great customer service. Sometimes I wonder what some of the partners are thinking - they have no customer service skills. I have seen partners belittle customers over the stupidest, meaningless things (like not giving coffee refills to customers who go out to the lot to get something from their cars, but never leave the property). If we focused on the customer and making them feel comfortable and appreciated, think how much our sales will increase. And that starts as soon as the customer enters our property until they sip their last sip of our beverages.

[Andy]

Sbuxlackey,

Which Romeoville store are you at? One of the stores I frequent is Airport and Weber.

[g]

Maybe they meant that each customer has to be greeted with a mentioning of the pairings?

[prime mover]

closures are based on lease agreements and how much they cost. that's basically it. you'll see less busy stores survive because they can't get outta the lease or slow stores with cheap leases survive.

get ready for the next blood bath.

[SBUX Alum Bill]

I'm truly sorry for every one of you that will have to join me in the unemployment line. In time, we'll all discover that there is life after Starbucks.

[S-to-the-M]

Lisa, the one right off of Hwy 99??? That's the only one I know of in Ripon.

[inopethflames]

anybody know how many stores are closing this time?

i hadnt heard any big stories on the national news or paper about this like when they closed the 600 stores. i assume its much less than that this time, it just always makes me a little nervous that one of the 2-3 main starbucks i go to in my area will close even though im pretty sure they wont because theyre in very crowded areas and are always busy no matter what time i go to them.

i had heard that sbux actually lowered prices in some chicago stores because of competition or something, i wish theyd do that here :)

[SPORK]

Weird! That stores close to mine. When the first round of store closures were happening, an email in the Communications Log was posted stating there would be no Canadian closures this quarter....

Very sad

[Melody]

anybody know how many stores are closing this time?

@intheopenflames:

I believe the answer is about 200 stores are closing in 2009:

From the investor relations materials on the investor relations page of starbucks.com:

Starbucks plans to be disciplined in its approach to new store openings, in both Company-operated and licensed
markets, and adjust as needed in response to further worsening in the global economy. Starbucks fiscal 2009 US
store opening target is approximately a negative 20 net new stores, which includes a nearly 225 Company-operated
store decline and approximately 205 net new licensed stores. Internationally, Starbucks is planning to open
approximately 700 net new stores in fiscal 2009, two-thirds of which are expected to be licensed, as it factors in the
current global economic climate, with a more cautious approach in the UK and western Europe."

[Mr. Who]

My RDO yesterday said they changed the number of domestic stores closing to 190...

[spnmp]

Friday was a very sad day when it was announced that a store that opened only ten months ago would be closing. With the optimal scheduling it looks like all of the partners will be unemployed including the manager. Who knows when the store will close, Starbucks has chosen to ignore the mission statement about respecting the partners and leave them hanging until they decide when to turn the lights off on the customers of the store. The community is in revolt with petitions, phone calls, letters only to name a few. Welcome to Tim Hortons because the are taking over the stores in the area that are closing. Wake Up Starbucks, we are loosing our customer base.

[Tim Horton]

Do you think SBUX is a buy at $5.00?

[Chicago Rebel]

why? we were promised so much in october and we spent so much money and now this. rumor is the DM will be telling the SM on how to run the store, and telling them to fire so many partners. I was Fired.

[spence]

We wouldn't be closing many stores if there wasn't a Starbucks in the grocery stores, Target, etc.
The licensed stores provide profit without without any angst. I'm starting to wonder if that is the big picture.

[ihatestarbucks]

screw howard go sell all their jets and all their corporate bonus' and make nmore jobs found out my store is closing there is no place to place them i know it so unemployment line here i come.noone is hiring nemore newhere

[Wasted Grounds]

In Denver, Colorado today there is a hiring fair for baristas and SS. Isn't that a slap in the face? One more example of a poorly run company, with out of touch management.

Thanks Howard for all your care and concern.

[MN Barista]

Due to Optimal Scheduling I am about to be let go...any idea what the severance packages look like?

[Going! Going! Gone!]

There is no severance package for baristas or SS's. You can however give your all during your last few days as you complete you scheduled shifts.

Oh, you might get a thank you.

[me]

Andy it is not about customer service skills. Of course we are supposed to greet our customers. And we all know. But making it a written rule to greet everyone while still entering the store and threatening write ups if not is NOT good customer service nor is it good leadership. What about that customer right in front of me that can't tell me his order because I keep greeting the new customers walking into the door out of fear for my job? Who am I supposed to be legendary to? My understanding of customer service is: The most important customer is the one right in front of me. This is the one I'm going to give my full attention.

[...]

wasted grounds -

if partners are being let go because of optimal scheduling, they obviously aren't able to work enough to meet the needs of the business. the hiring fair will probably be looking for people who do meet the needs of the business. therefore it does make sense.

[(former) FLA SM]

"There is no severance package for baristas or SS's."

Actually, that's not entirely correct. It is true that if you get squeezed out due to optimal scheduling, you get nothing (except unemployment.) However, if you are in a closing store, and are not offered another position within 10 miles, you get a severance package. Baristas get 1 weeks pay (WOW!) and shifts get 2 weeks pay (WOW!). The pay is based on an average of how many hours you worked over the last six weeks (I'm pretty sure it's six weeks.) Also, hourly employees get paid for unused earned vacation hours. Detail vary by state, I'm sure, but that's how it is in Florida.

Also, rumor has it that another store is closing in my old district, but I will sit on the details until I have confirmation. (This would be a store that was just announced, not one of the original 600+.)

[kris]

Did you notice that Starbucks reduced their cup sizes?First time i thought the barista made a mistake but the second time I noticed that the Grande I always get is now the Tall and suspect that Venti is the former Grande and Tall has become something even smaller.Does anyone know if they will change back to normal?

[J]

Starbucks did not reduce their cup sizes at all. You must just be confused.

[WordUp!]

Kris: either you are delusional, starting up trouble, or most likely some partner stocked the cup sizes wrong and the partner pulled the wrong one inadvertently. On another note any stores closing in massachusetts or new hampshire?

[FormerSBUXManager]

Romenesko: Why the insistence on tinyurl? I don't get your fixation on it. It's not much more difficult to highlight more text to copy/paste... yet you expend a lot of energy insisting that people use it here.

If you care about convenience, why don't you allow hyperlinks?

[lmd]

i found out my store in hammer/lower sacramento, stockton, ca is closing...we haven't been open two years..but what pisses me off is the WHEN..so much for respect and dignity. i have given a lot to starbucks for 2 years. i should have not expected anything from them since they are a big company and all we are are numbers.

[ex]

Shifts do get their vacation time, but I found out today MGRs and ASMs lose thier vacation time when terminated, Talk about a screw job

[Grammar Girl]

"my gigantic pet peeve: starbuck's (it's the c.b.c.! please spell correctly)"

Redcup, why do you think that the name must be either a) a possessive or b) a contraction. It can simply be a plural that serves as a name. Even if it were, it would be a punctuation error, not a spelling error.

[Grammar Girl]

I should have given examples: Curves, Visions, New Sensations. Would you demand Curve's, Vision's, and New Sensation's?

[Grammar Girl]

Just to clarify, I am not trying to pose as THE grammar girl. I am not her nor am I affiliated with her in any way.

[(former) FLA SM]

@ worried SS NYC:

Really??? Grow up.

[A pinck]

To anyone who is involuntary seperatrd between sept 08 and dec 09 starbucks is required to pay 65 percent of your cobra premium each month up to nine months.

[SBUX Alum Bill]

@ A pinck:

To anyone who is involuntary seperatrd between sept 08 and dec 09 starbucks is required to pay 65 percent of your cobra premium each month up to nine months.

Absolutely true! Please take advantage of this. Here are more details:

U.S. Department of Labor: COBRA Premium Reduction

[EntertainmentInsider]

So many whiners out there. Starbucks is evil now because they have to close some stores? They grew too fast. Some say they could have sustained most (if not ALL) of the store growth had the overall economy not slowed... and yes, some areas are hiring while others are losing their stores. That's Starbucks' fault too? Why is it corporate's fault that the Denver, CO market can sustain tons more stores than Romeoville, IL or Ripon, CA ?? You think they'd be closing those stores if they were making the money those stores in Denver are making?? Or what about the two newest stores in Puyallup, WA -- is it corporate's fault those are doing well too?

I know people are passionate about Starbucks, but give a little room to actually BE a company here, guys!!

[crybaby #15,796]

The problem with tiny url is that you have no idea what site you're about to be re-directed to. Links are the way to go.

[g]

I have to agree with EntertainmentInsider. There are WAY too many stores in the United States. Towns that only need one or two stores actually have four to six and there are only so many people out there that go to Starbucks.

No, corporate is not 100% to blame, but they really should have had more common sense to not open up so many stores and especially so close together like they did.

Those of us who have been around for awhile remember when our stores were extremely busy yet we were extremely efficient and had great speed of service, mainly because we had to.

Then a new store opened up less than three miles away and "stole" half of our business. Now, with the bad economy, less people are coming to both stores! Why did we need two stores that close to each other? More important, why did we need two stores in the first place?!?!

[anonymous]

I have been told that the store downstairs from Huntington Beach, CA's corporate office (#9451 Beach and Warner) is also closing. I can't say I'm surprised but it's very sad-- that used to be my store!