Starbucks Is Closing 250 Cafes This Week, and Your Local Green Apron Might Be Next (But We Hope Not!)
Starbucks store closures will cause about 250 North American cafes to close this week. Here is what we know, what we don’t, and what it means for your coffee run.
Grab your venti and sit down for this one. Starbucks announced Thursday that about 250 under-performing North American cafes will close, and most of them will be gone before the company’s fiscal year ends on September 30. That means the latest round of Starbucks store closures is happening right now, not sometime next spring. Here is the catch for anyone hoping to check whether their morning stop made the list: Starbucks has not said which locations are closing, or how many of them are in the United States.
Starbucks Store Closures: The Quick Rundown
- About 250 North American cafes are closing, roughly 1% of a footprint of more than 18,000 locations.
- Most closures wrap up by the end of fiscal 2026, which lands on September 30.
- It is the second big round of closures under CEO Brian Niccol, who took over in 2024.
- Starbucks expects about $300 million in restructuring charges.
- Net new openings for the year drop to 440, down from an earlier forecast of 600 to 650.
Why Starbucks Says It Is Pulling the Plug
In a letter to employees, Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams said the targeted cafes either are not hitting acceptable financial results or cannot deliver the kind of experience Starbucks wants for customers and employees. The closures are part of the company’s “Back to Starbucks” turnaround plan, which also includes a big push to remodel stores.
Speaking of remodels, Starbucks says it expects 1,500 retrofitted cafes by September 30 to make stores cozier and more inviting. Basically, the plan is to make cafes feel like a living room rather than a pit stop, which is a tall order (pun absolutely intended).
The Price Tag
Closing stores is not free. Of the roughly $300 million in restructuring charges, about $200 million is expected to be cash, mostly for leaving leases early and paying employee separation benefits. The other $100 million is non-cash, tied to disposing of and writing down assets at cafes the company runs itself.
For the year, Starbucks now projects 440 net new openings globally, and those new cafes are expected to come from international markets. The company still says it sees long term growth ahead in North America and is building a pipeline of new coffeehouses.
What Happens to the Baristas?
Starbucks says it will transfer employees to other stores when possible and offer severance support when it is not. The company has not said how many of the closing cafes are unionized. More than 700 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late 2021, and the company and the union still have not reached a labor agreement.
For context, last September Starbucks closed 627 stores across North America and Europe and laid off 900 employees outside its stores. This is now a pattern, and it lands right before the fiscal year ends.
What the Starbucks Store Closures Mean for Your Next Park Trip
We cover Orlando and Tampa, so let’s keep this practical. Nobody has published a location list, so no one can say yet whether your favorite stop near the hotel, on the drive in, or on the way to rope drop is affected. Our honest advice: before you build a 7 a.m. plan around a specific Starbucks, check that location in the Starbucks app or on a map with current hours. Finding out from your phone beats finding out from a locked door while your kids stare at you.
The Starbucks store closures are a small slice of a huge empire, about 1% of the North American footprint, but they hit hard for the people who work in those cafes and the neighborhoods losing a familiar stop. We will update this post as soon as Starbucks or local reporting identifies which locations are going dark.
For more theme park-related news and information, visit MSM News. As always, eat like you mean it!
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