Starbucks is planning to close 400 of its stores in North America over the next 18 months and will expand delivery and pickup services.
“This repositioning will include the closure of up to 400 company-operated stores over the next 18 months in conjunction with the opening, over time, of a greater number of new, repositioned stores in different locations and with innovative store formats,” the company said in its filing on June 10.
The move will “[yield] a U.S. portfolio that is optimized to enhance the customer experience, expand our retail presence and enable profitable growth for the future,” the Seattle-based chain said. “As part of the ongoing assessment of our physical store footprint, we typically close approximately 100 company-operated stores annually in the Americas, primarily due to lease expirations, trade-area shifts and other market conditions.”
The company said these efforts will take place only in the United States and Canada.
The company, however, said it was re-evaluating how it sold coffee prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that customers in major cities often grabbed coffee-to-go.