Customers Fighting To Save Starbucks
Not long after Starbuck had released the 600 locations that they were going to shut down loyal customers created the Save Our Starbucks campaign. Customers from both small and large cities are making phone calls, writing letters, and sending out petitions in hopes that corporate will keep the doors of these stores open.
“Now that it’s going away, we’re devastated,” said Kate Walker, a facilities manager for SunGard Financial Systems, a software company, who recently learned of a store closing in New York City.
Customers watched as Starbucks grew to be one of the biggest and fastest growing retailers during the past decade. For the longest time the independent coffee shops were upset and angry over the control that they had on the people - but now everyone is sad to see them go. Starbucks said that because of poor sales they are forced to close 600 store locations.
Ms. Walker is in charge of consolidating 525 people from seven of the company’s New York City offices into a new building in January. The Starbucks inside that building, at Madison and 44th, “was something that we were using to psych people up” about the move, she said.
Her hopes were dashed after Thursday night, when Starbucks released the list of the stores that it plans to close. She scoured the Internet to find a phone number for the company’s main office and jotted down a company post office box address so she can ask officials to reconsider. “I know it’s going to be tough but I’ll keep trying at it,” Ms. Walker said. “It’s sort of an extension of our office.”
Although the states with the largest number of closings are California, Florida and Texas, the impact is greater proportionally elsewhere. Mississippi, for instance, is slated to lose 41% of its Starbucks locations; North Dakota, 33%; Minnesota, 32%; and Nebraska, 30%, according to an analysis by William Blair & Co. analyst Sharon Zackfia. That calculation excludes licensed Starbucks stores.