Starbucks is moving ahead with a large-scale closure plan, with approximately 250 coffee shops in the United States and Canada expected to be closed, accounting for about 1 per cent of its total number of North American stores. Of these, the state of California will close 64 businesses, accounting for about 2.1 per cent of the total number of Starbucks stores in the state. The closure was one of the core initiatives of the CEO Brian Niccol ' s "Back to Starbucks" strategy, launched in 2024, aimed at cutting down underperforming shops and optimizing the overall network layout.
The closure operation covered the entire territory of California, with the closure list appearing from Sacramento in the north, San Francisco Bay to Los Angeles and Santiago in the south.
In Southern California, the L.A. Times verified that at least 36 stores had been offline from the application and had been marked "permanently closed" on Google maps or could not be reached by telephone. These stores are located in Alsoweyo, Azusa, Burbank, Calabasas, Century City, Chatsworth, Cyprus, Ensinitas, Laguna Woods, Los Angeles, at various addresses (including the Beverly Glen Circle, Wilshire Avenue, Broadway, Olive Street, Central Avenue, Fifth Street), North Hollywood, Ontario, Paramold, Landa Heights, San Bernardino, Santiago, San Anna, etc.
On the North California side, Sacramento has many outlets, including Trussel Road, Watt Avenue, Elcgrove Florin Road, Calvin Road and Jefferson Street. There are also shops in San José, Mantineville, South San Francisco, walnut creek and Santa Rosa. St. Louis Obespo has confirmed that three shops will be closed by the end of the week at 3970 Broadway, 253 Medina Square and 1075 downtown Court Street.
The way in which the information is made available is more specific. A Starbucks fan, known as "Winter", created a spreadsheet summarizing 36 potentially closed stores in Southern California based on the recently closed shop data marked in the Starbucks application. The L.A. Times then verified one by one that the stores had been removed from the Starbucks application and had either been marked "permanently closed" on Google Maps or called unattended. Starbucks did not respond to a number of media requests for confirmation of the closing of the stores, nor did it publish a complete closure list.
Starbucks' massive closing was accompanied by a major financial reorganization. The company announced that it would bear approximately $300 million in restructuring costs, while initiating a $1 billion reorganization and door renovation plan. For its part, the company indicated that the closed shop was in a position of "bad performance" and that the restructuring was aimed at optimizing the overall quality of the complex.
After taking up the role of Starbucks CEO in 2024, Nicole launched the "Return to Starbucks" strategy, with the core objectives of remodeling the door shop experience, improving product quality and improving labour relations. The closure of some 250 shops this time was seen as a concrete implementation of the strategy at the level of a combination of shops — by cutting down inefficient stores and concentrating resources on more growth potential. Some 250 stores are equivalent to about 1 per cent of the Starbucks North American Gate, while 64 in California account for 2.1 per cent of the total number of stores in the state.
For consumers, customers living in communities around closed shops will face the recent increase in the distance from Starbucks Gate. As Starbucks has not yet published a complete list, some consumers may not find it closed until they go to the door shop. Consumers are advised to check the operations of nearby stores through the Starbucks application and plan travel routes ahead of schedule.
In the case of door-to-door employees, the closure of a place implies a change of workplace or a risk of unemployment. It is worth noting that while the closure plan is moving forward, Starbucks employees are launching strikes throughout the United States. In Los Angeles, there are a number of shop workers on the picket line, and California parliamentarians joined in the strike on Long Beach. On Red Cup Day, trade union organizations launched strikes in dozens of shops, including 10 in California. Tensions in labour relations go hand in hand with the closure of doors, which puts double pressure on employees.
For investors, the large-scale closure and reorganization plans reflect the strategic contraction of Starbuck in the context of increased competition. Yahoo reported that a Chinese coffee giant was planning to enter the California market, which could further intensify competition. Meanwhile, a 10-year business lease signed by Starbucks in California, a Starbucks Express store on the Pacific Coast Highway, was sold at about $4.75 million, showing that some of the high-quality Starbucks properties still had considerable investment value.
Starbucks has not yet published a complete list of 64 California shut-downs, nor has he formally responded to the media on the specific timetable for the closure plan. Next, the market will focus on: how Starbucks can reallocate resources after closing doors; whether the "Return Starbucks" strategy can re-energize growth in an increasingly competitive coffee market; and whether ongoing strike actions will be further escalated by a shrinking door shop. Consumers and employees have access to up-to-date information through official Starbucks channels.