NEW YORK — Coffee giant Starbucks announced a significant contraction of its North American footprint on Thursday, September 24, confirming plans to shutter 250 store locations due to sustained poor performance. The move marks the latest chapter in a broader corporate restructuring effort under CEO Brian Niccol.
In a letter to staff and stakeholders, Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams explained that while the company’s vast network of 18,000 stores remains largely profitable, a small subset of locations has failed to meet financial expectations.
“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 stated.
The closures, which represent approximately 1 percent of the company’s footprint on the continent, are set to take effect by the end of this week. Starbucks has not yet released a specific list of the impacted stores, nor did it disclose a geographical breakdown of how the cuts will be distributed across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Regarding the workforce, Grams noted that the company intends to transition affected employees to other nearby locations where possible. For those who cannot be reassigned, the company has pledged to provide severance support.
Despite the immediate reduction, leadership maintained a positive outlook on the company’s long-term health. Grams framed the move as a routine optimization of the brand’s real estate portfolio, stating that Starbucks remains committed to growth and is actively developing a pipeline for new, higher-performing coffeehouses.
This decision follows an aggressive trend of restructuring under CEO Brian Niccol, who took the helm in 2024. The company has been in a state of flux for over a year; in September 2025, Starbucks executed a massive consolidation, closing 627 stores across North America and Europe while cutting 900 corporate roles. Additionally, in May of this year, the company laid off another 300 corporate staff members and began streamlining its regional office footprint, including a shift in presence from its Seattle headquarters to new offices in Nashville, Tennessee.
A key driver of this evaluation has been the company’s recent “retrofitting” initiative, which aims to make stores more inviting for customers. As of late September, Starbucks expects to have renovated 1,500 of its coffeehouses. According to Grams, this capital improvement project provided the company with clearer data regarding which locations were failing to gain traction despite the internal push to modernize.
Founded in 1971 at Seattle’s Pike Place Market, Starbucks has grown into a global powerhouse, now operating 41,000 locations worldwide. With these latest closures, the company continues its pivot toward a leaner, more centralized model in its home market.
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