Starbucks Closing 600 Stores In The US

SEATTLE (AP) — Starbucks has announced it’s closing 600 underperforming stores in the United States.

“This decision is a result of a rigorous evaluation of the U.S. company-operated store portfolio and includes the 100 stores targeted for closure in the company’s previously announced plans,” Starbucks said through a press release
 posted to their website Tuesday.

The release does not specifically mention the locations of any of the closures, saying only that they were nationwide.

“The stores identified for closure are spread across all major U.S. markets,” Starbucks said, “with approximately 70 percent of them opened since the beginning of fiscal 2006.” 

The Seattle based company also announced Tuesday it expect to open fewer than 200 new company operated stores in the United States in fiscal 2009. They added that they will try to place workers from closed stores in remaining Starbucks and “reach out to customers who are impacted by the store closures in a variety of ways.”