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Giulia Carbonaro

By Giulia Carbonaro

Senior Reporter

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Starbucks announced the closure of 250 of its stores across North America by the end of the week, in a move that has sparked concern for staff left in limbo about their future and let go with relatively short notice.

"I feel for the staff so hard. Times are so bad right now, nobody can afford to get laid off because there’s no jobs that will actually hire," a Starbucks customer wrote on Reddit, sharing a photo of a letter hung on the door of their local coffeehouse informing Starbucks’ "amazing customers" of the closure.

The same user spoke of talking to a barista who was given "less than 48 hours" notice, who said they "literally have no idea if they’re going to get laid off or not but they find out Monday."

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In another post on Reddit thread r/starbucksbaristas, a user asked about the severance pay offered by Starbucks to employees who were let go in the first round of closures, saying: "It’s horrible they’re doing this around the end of the month where we all got to pay rent. And the holidays that are coming up."

A customer enters a Starbucks Coffee store on June 10, 2020 in San Rafael, California.

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Some spoke about being let go with one day’s notice, others with three days’ notice, despite the company’s requirement that staff give two weeks notice to leave the job. While some said they have been laid off, others are unaware of their fate.

In another post on the thread, a user who identified themselves as a former manager of one of the locations shut this week spoke about the "bittersweet" experience of turning in the key for the store. "Hopefully I get transferred, if not, until next time," they wrote.

Twenty of the 250 stores closing were unionized, Starbucks Workers United told Newsweek. "Today's announcement proves again that ‘Back to Starbucks’ is nothing more than a betrayal of what workers and customers loved about the company," a spokesperson for the union said.

"As Starbucks continues to close stores, violate labor law, hike up our healthcare premiums, and betray its core value of belonging to appease right-wing politicians, the company is moving farther away from everything it once was.

"Starbucks is becoming unrecognizable under CEO Brian Niccol—and that is why labor allies, elected officials, and customers are all joining together to boycott Starbucks until they finalize a fair union contract.

"Starbucks leadership is failing the company, and trouble is brewing for Starbucks. When the country’s most pro-business court of appeals calls Starbucks a ‘repeat violator’ of labor law, it’s time for everyone to start paying attention."

Workers United is sending a formal request for information to Starbucks about the planned closures, according to the union. "We expect to engage in effects bargaining for every impacted union store, as we have done elsewhere, so workers can be placed in another Starbucks store, according to their preferences."

Newsweek contacted Starbucks, all Reddit users quoted above for comment by email or direct messaging on Sunday.

‘Our Family’s Been Torn Apart’

A line manager employed by Starbucks for several years and who was working at one of the locations in the Northeast that was shut down told Newsweek that staffers found out only on Thursday that Friday would be their official last day of business. They were also told that, over the weekend, they would have to go in and break down the store themselves.

The announcement was "definitely a shock," the line manager, who has chosen anonymity, said. "We had delivery orders coming in, schedules for the next three weeks; nothing to give us any kind of warning that business wouldn’t be going on like usual. We had a seating area and a great regular customer base. From our perspective, the store was doing well," the line manager said.

The announcement was given as the staffers were on the clock, forcing them "to fight tears" as they served customers for another eight hours. Describing the last few days before the closure, the line manager spoke of "a whirlwind of emotions."

"I guess it’s easy when you’re on the outside to say, ‘oh, it’s only 1 percent of stores—the majority of employees are safe.’ And then it happens to you, and you realize how many hundreds of people are affected or going to be affected," the line manager said.

"We closed on a Friday when most of our regulars work from home so we didn’t even get to tell them what happened or goodbye. It’s awful knowing that our favorite customers, people we’ve seen every day for maybe years, will show up on Monday and have no idea where we went or if we’re OK.

"My fellow employees found out that, in three days, they would have no job in a struggling economy and are having to trust the company’s word, a company that just let them go, that they can get rehired later. It’s honestly terrifying."

The closure has torn apart the "family" that Starbucks employees had built at the store over shared "holidays, birthdays, every type of occasion," the line manager said.

"None of us were new. Every single one has given years of their lives to this company, and it feels like they didn’t even care enough to give us a week or two to get our affairs in order," the line manager said.

"People don’t know how they’ll pay rent, how they’re going to eat if they decide not to return or aren’t able to be rehired. Even then, they have nothing to rely on but vague assurances that the company can even take them back later and no actual details."

What Is Behind the Latest Round of Closures?

In a memo sent to employees on Thursday, Starbucks’ COO Mike Grams wrote that a recent review of the company’s operations found that many stores across North America "can’t consistently deliver adequate financial performance or customer experiences."

As a result, the company has decided to close 250 coffeehouses, approximately 1 percent of their total of more than 18,000 stores in North America. The closures were the result of a "difficult decision," Grams wrote, and Starbucks knows they will be "hard for the partners, customers and communities affected."

Starbucks will support impacted partners through this transition, the company said, including transfer opportunities wherever possible. "For partners we are unable to place in another coffeehouse, we will provide severance support," Grams wrote.

The latest round of closures, which comes after CEO Brian Niccol announced a similar amount of closures a year ago as part of a $1 billion restructuring effort, does not mean the company is pulling out of North America.

"Every year we close some coffeehouses and open others as part of managing our portfolio," Grams wrote in his memo. "And as we shared previously, we remain excited about the significant long-term growth opportunity ahead in North America. We are actively developing a strong pipeline of new coffeehouses and remain committed to growth in North America."

But Starbucks is forecast to open just 440 new locations globally during this fiscal year, down from a previously announced 600 to 650 openings, according to a Thursday regulatory filing mentioned by CNN.

The closures will come at a cost for the company, which, according to the filing, will pay roughly $300 million in charges relating to the operation, including $200 million for ending leases early and severance benefits for employees.

Which Starbucks Stores Are Closing?

Starbucks has not released a list of all the shops closing across North America, including the U.S. Coffeehouses that are closing will have signage up this weekend to notify customers, which are invited to visit Starbucks.com or the Starbucks app to find nearby coffeehouses and updated location information.

At least a dozen stores are closing across the Bay Area in California, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. These include:

Additionally, the SFGate listed several more locations in California that are presumed to have closed, as their business hours appeared only as "closed" in the coming days. Starbucks did not confirm the closures. These are:

An open-access list created by one of the Starbucks employees being laid off this week included many more locations across the U.S., including:

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas

Colorado

Connecticut

Florida

Illinois

Kentucky

Maryland

Michigan

Missouri

Nebraska

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin

Newsweek could not verify the closures of these stores. Starbucks was asked to confirm the closures of the above locations.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly, James Debens and Cristina Diciu.

Update, 09/29/2026 12:09 p.m. ET: this article was updated with comment from Starbucks Workers United and a Starbucks line manager.

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