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Starbucks increases number of store closures |
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Wednesday, 02 July 2008 |
SCBIZ Daily Staff
SEATTLE, Wash. -- Starbucks Corporation has announced it will close 600 underperforming company-operated stores in the U.S. market during the remainder of fiscal 2008 and the first half of fiscal 2009. The company had previously said it would only close 100 stores. Officials were not available at press time to comment on the number of stores in South Carolina that would be impacted.
According to a company statement, the stores identified for closure are spread across all major U.S. markets with approximately 70% of them opened since the beginning of fiscal 2006. The executive and field leadership teams used several criteria to identify stores for closure that included locations that were not profitable at the store level and not projected to provide acceptable returns in the foreseeable future. In addition to site and market-specific criteria, consideration was given to the impact of current and anticipated economic trends.
Both full-time and part-time retail positions will be eliminated, however the company expects to place many of the affected employees into available positions at nearby Starbucks stores.
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