Era Ending: Starbucks to close 600 stores

[RawAlex]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310ap_starbucks_closings.html

This is a stunning reversal for a company that basically kept growing and a market that seemed to have endless taste for $5 cups of coffee. While they aren't precise, it would appear that many of the closings would be poorly thought out shops often opened within a couple of blocks of another shop, and the vast majority are stores opened in the last couple of years.

Hopefully a few less coffee buyers will mean more people with space on the credit cards for porn.

[softball]

In vancouver there are Starbucks kitty corner from each other. This decision is just the new marketing reality which, in fact, is the old marketing reality.

[Hell Puppy]

Starbucks only has company stores, so consolidating those that are within site of each other and both suffering will help them. Good business move.

Dont count on those kitty cornered ones in the northwest to be among the closings though. They take the same approach as our beloved Waffle Houses do in the south, put two at each exit so you can get to either without making a left hand turn.

[softball]

you could be right on the kitty corner stores around here, but you are wrong on this...

Starbucks only has company stores

Try using you starbucks card (I have one) in some airports and hardware stores. Those are franchises. I was amazed to discover this...

[RawAlex]

I don't wonder about it being a good business move to close the overlapping stores, but rather I wonder about the arrogance that got them into the position to start with. That has got to be some of the worst business decisions ever, and considering that everyone and their dog could see the US economy slowly grinding down, why they fuck would they build out that many stores since 2006?

arrogance...

[DannyCox]

A neighbour of mine is a Starbucks franchise holder. His store does quite well too. He keeps asking me when I'm going to stop by and I keep telling them, when they learn how to make coffee! That shit is so weak, I have to get a triple-shot in a small cappuccino just to taste the "espresso"!

My next door neighbour owns and runs an Italian coffee house in Little Italy. Now that's some fine coffee there.

[DannyCox]

BTW, my daughter ran the Starbucks in the International area at the Montreal Airport for quite a while. That one was owned by Cara, the company that does the food for most of the airlines out of Montreal. Union job too! She jumped ship to Second Cup a couple of months ago.

[bluemoney]

Best cup of “Joe” I ever had was from a family run Greek restaurant back in the day when I lived in Doraville (Touch of country in the city).

That being said, I think companies that stay lean in the good times as well as the bad don’t find themselves in a pickle down the road.

[Toby]

I think companies that stay lean in the good times as well as the bad don’t find themselves in a pickle down the road.
I was thinking the same as I read that headline yesterday.

It may not have been a smart move opening all those stores given the economic vibe over the last couple of years, but how many companies have you seen that refused to admit their error, keep trudging on hemorraging cash flow, to end up going completely down the tubes?

[softball]

Ever since I moved to Vancouver I have developed a Starbucks jones. I think they put some kind of drug in their coffee. Their are at least five within walking distance of me and I buy their music cd's.

[RawAlex]

In the end, it isn't any different from the American auto manufactures again missing the boat when it comes to oil prices. When the US invaded Iraq (what, 4 years ago) it was almost forseeable that the price of oil would go up. Maybe not this far, but basing your business on selling the largest trucks and SUVs and ignoring reality is a real pain.

Even the might Toyota got caught out, as they relatively quick selling Tacoma pickups and SUV variants are suddenly dead on the lots, and they are sold out of hybrids with not enough supply forecast any time soon.

It is very likely that Chrysler will once again fail, as upwards to 70% of their market is in light trucks.