Starbucks to close 600 of its stores

[Eireann]

You won't believe this, but I have never had Starbucks. Ever.

Of course, the fact that I don't drink coffee has quite a bit to do with that.

I was visiting a friend of mine in the birthplace of Starbucks, Seattle, and I went into one of their stores to use the bathroom. I think that's the only time I've ever been in one, and no, I didn't buy anything. Which makes me a great rarity in the Western world.

[powerboy]

I am torn on this subject. I do not drink their coffee, but my brother does. But that is alot of people that going to be out of jobs.

[daleduke17]

I think we may have four in town, at the most:

- One in Kroger
- Vets/Washington
- Vets/Morrissey (far enough away from the other one on Vets)
- one in SF Corporate (maybe)

There isn't even a Starbucks at either of the four colleges/universities in town, or near them.

[Boozy]

We've had Phase 1 of their plan (collect underpants. Or possibly saturate the market with their own stores, thus driving a lot of other stores out of business), now it's time for Phase 2. Phase 3 is profit, which is what you get after you close all the stores that are making losses.

"Starbucks to Begin Sinister 'Phase Two' of Operation"
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28657

[BlaqueKatt]

this article from seattle says it was done to increase stock values only.

CEO Howard Schultz Schultz said in a statement that Starbucks is focused on improving efficiency, customer satisfaction and shareholder value.

as does this BBC article

"At the same time, we recognise that it is necessary to make decisions that will strengthen the US store portfolio."

and opening 2500 stores in europe

[Broomjockey]

CEO Howard Schultz Schultz said in a statement that Starbucks is focused on improving efficiency, customer satisfaction and shareholder value.

Called it. Overextended themselves, passed market saturation in some areas. Probably the worst thing you can do is take business away from yourself. Hard to fix that short of closing a store.

[AdminAssistant]

There are a crapton...wait...a fuckton here. Of course, with all the business types/soccer moms here Starbucks does good business (and don't forget the "yuppies that think they're hippies because they buy organic"). I only go to the one with a drivethru when the local place behind my house is closed (it closes at 2 pm ).

[symposes]

I heard once, that starbucks had a few chains they opened right across the street from eachother. ie both corners of an interesection, and the scary part is, business didnt slow down.

Ie, if they had 300 customers a day in store A, store B right across the street wouldnt hurt that 300 a day count.

Its almost as if, people would go into a starbucks, chat it up a little, drink the coffee, and somehow finish the coffee just as they came out. And then they would say, oh hey starbucks, and cross the street and buy coffee. haha.

[Boozy]

Take-out coffee is one of those spontaneous purchases that people only buy if it's very easy to do so. So coffee shops across the street from each other don't tend to share the same customer base. One serves, say, the southbound drivers, and one serves the northbound.

The time it takes to turn left or walk across a busy intersection is time consumers spend questioning the wisdom of spending $5 on foamy milk and a shot of so-so espresso. The only way to avoid that is to shorten the length of time between seeing the Starbucks and being inside the Starbucks. Those precious seconds matter in an industry such as this one.

[Broomjockey]

Those precious seconds matter in an industry such as this one.

Then there's the ones in high-density office areas. If you're on a 15-min break, or sent to fetch coffee, crossing the street's dangerous, so if you don't have to do that, you're likely to take advantage. Also, if a place isn't as busy, you're more likely to go. So I'd bet in the case of the stores across the street, there's almost no overlap in customers. But there's a limited number of areas where that setup could work, and I think Starbucks put up a few more than could be stood like that.

[Caveat Emptor]

A few weeks ago my mom and I stayed at the Luxor in Vegas. The directions to get to our room, I kid you not, started as "cross the lobby, past the first Starbucks, right at the second Starbucks..."