The beloved coffee chain started out of Seattle in 1971, is closing as many as 150 stores nationwide next year, 2019. The reason? Simply due to the fact that they ar performing poorly. This number is up from previous years by as much as 3 times higher the number of stores they normally close each year. The areas that will be affected by closures will be the heavily urban areas that have a high population of Starbucks stores.
While Starbucks did lose out on money this past May (tens of millions) due to the closing of 8,000 stores for mandatory anti-bias training, the company does expect a 1% growth in global sales for this third quarter of theirs. In addition they plan to boost their sales by adding more healthy drink options at their stores. These drinks would contain less sugar for the health conscious consumer.
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson made a statement regarding the company's performance: "Our recent performance does not reflect the potential of our exceptional brand and is not acceptable. We must move faster to address the more rapidly changing preferences and needs of our customers."
-Producer Lightning