Starbucks will close approximately 250 underperforming North American coffeehouses this week as the company continues restructuring under CEO Brian Niccol while simultaneously renovating existing locations and planning additional stores.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Starbucks will close approximately 250 coffeehouses across North America later this week after determining that the locations either cannot provide the customer experience the company wants or lack a viable path to acceptable financial performance.
Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams announced the closures Thursday in a message to employees, saying the affected stores represent about 1% of Starbucks’ more than 18,000 North American locations.
“We have carefully reviewed our North America coffeehouse portfolio and identified locations where we do not believe we can consistently deliver the experience we want for customers and partners or where we don’t see a path to acceptable financial performance,” Grams said.
Starbucks did not identify the locations slated for closure or provide a breakdown showing how many will be in the United States, Canada or Mexico.
Employees at affected locations will be offered transfers to nearby Starbucks stores where possible, Grams said. Workers the company cannot relocate will receive severance support.
The closures are part of Starbucks’ broader effort to reshape its store network while CEO Brian Niccol continues implementing the company’s “Back to Starbucks” turnaround strategy.
Although the company is eliminating hundreds of locations, Grams emphasized that the overwhelming majority of its North American stores remain profitable and said Starbucks continues to see substantial room for expansion.
“We are actively developing a strong pipeline of new coffeehouses and remain committed to growth,” the company said.
Starbucks routinely opens and closes locations as leases expire, customer traffic changes and individual store economics evolve. The new round is larger than ordinary annual adjustments but represents a relatively small share of the company’s overall North American footprint.
Grams said Starbucks’ recent investments have also given management a clearer picture of how individual stores are performing.
“This progress has given us a clearer view of the performance of every coffeehouse,” Grams said. “While most are benefiting from this overall momentum, some coffeehouses continue to underperform despite the hard work and commitment of all of you.”
The company is simultaneously accelerating renovations intended to make its coffeehouses warmer and more inviting.
Starbucks said it is working toward completing 1,500 store “uplifts” by Sept. 30, the end of its fiscal year. The redesigned locations include softer seating, artwork, greenery, warmer materials and other changes intended to encourage customers to spend more time inside the stores. More than 1,000 U.S. and Canadian coffeehouses had already been renovated by Sept. 23.
The 250 closures represent the second significant round of store reductions since Niccol became chairman and CEO in 2024.
In September 2025, Starbucks announced a restructuring that resulted in hundreds of store closures, including locations in North America and Europe, as well as the elimination of approximately 900 non-retail positions. The company said at the time that some stores could not provide the physical environment it wanted or lacked a path toward acceptable financial performance.
That restructuring also included the closure of Starbucks’ Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill in Seattle and its Reserve location in SoDo.
The company continued reducing corporate expenses in May 2026, eliminating another 300 U.S. corporate positions and closing several regional support offices as it consolidated operations. Those cuts did not directly affect coffeehouse locations.
At the same time, Starbucks has been investing heavily in stores and staffing as Niccol attempts to restore the company’s traditional coffeehouse atmosphere while improving service speed.
The strategy has included simplifying operations, increasing employee coverage during busy periods, redesigning stores and attempting to reduce customer wait times. Starbucks recently said its North American business has returned to strong growth, with customers receiving faster service and a more consistent experience.
The company has also said that renovated coffeehouses are encouraging customers to stay longer and visit more frequently.
Starbucks remains committed to adding locations despite this week’s closures. At its 2026 Investor Day, the company identified as many as 5,000 additional potential U.S. coffeehouse opportunities and said that number could eventually grow further as individual store sales increase.
The contrasting moves — closing stores that fail to meet financial or customer-experience standards while renovating and opening others — reflect the company’s effort to improve the quality and profitability of its network rather than simply reduce its overall presence.
Starbucks began in 1971 with a single location at Seattle’s Pike Place Market and has since expanded into a global coffee chain with roughly 41,000 locations worldwide and hundreds of thousands of employees.
For the 250 North American coffeehouses now slated to close, customers and employees are expected to learn which individual locations are affected as Starbucks begins implementing the shutdowns later this week.
Grams said the company remains optimistic about its longer-term position despite the closures.
“We are actively developing a strong pipeline of new coffeehouses and remain committed to growth,” he said.
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