Starbucks closing 600 stores in the US

[gatorback]

How exciting for you.

[Jason]

Good for them!  Losing that shop would be horrible for 11E.

If it happens though, left behind is the perfect start-up for an independent buisness owner.

[thelakelander]

I don't think they can do anything other than cry.  The chain is losing money and they probably can't justify staying open for a few residents in 11 East, which has something like only 127 units or so.  As Jason pointed out and Downtownparks earlier, at least the space is now built out.  This will make it easier for someone else to open a business there.

[blizz01]

Everything I've read indicated that Starbucks has been mum on the closings thus far & would be notifying targeted stores mid-July and go through March 2009. Stores were to be notified 30 days in advance - so that's all that's left for the 11E location???  Gone in August???

[RiversideGator]

Source?

[rjp2008]

Smoothies are the present and future!!

Tropical Smoothie continues to grow at an insane pace in the area, and Emerald City out of Seattle is hoping to launch 10 locations in town.

Who wants coffee anyway when it's 105 degrees outside?

[Ocklawaha]

You can close 599 stores, but closing the 11E store rips the heart out of a growing urbanism in Jacksonvilles downtown. Perhaps sales are short in our long hot summers, perhaps you should invest in SOUTHERN SWEET TEA, with out the added crap from Seattle?

It has been said that more millions dollar "deals" have been made in the LOUNGE cars of the New York Commuter trains then any other place on earth. Your 11E location is quickly gaining on that record, your by the numbers only store chopping does NOTHING to endear you to your fans, or to our community. Example? I live by the Jacksonville Beaches... SEA-TAC airport if you will, but I drive to 11E to meet with friends, business partners and political figures. Oh that SEA-TAC remark, yeah, like driving from SEA-TAC to King Street in Seattle for the same purpose. How many Starbucks do I pass on the road? Ucountable.

To quote a line from a famous movie. "Big mistake, big, HUGE!"

Ocklawaha

[RiversideGator]

I wonder if the 11E location is going to close.  I was just there and they are installing new smoothie machines to serve their newest product and they have ads for it plastered all over the store.  It doesnt seem like the sort of thing a company would do with a store facing imminent closure.

In any case, IMO the best way to prevent a possible closure is to patronize the place as much as possible right now.

[RiversideGator]

Here is an interactive map of confirmed and rumored store closures and none are in Jacksonville proper as of yet:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/businesstechnology/locationsofstarbucksstoresclosingacrossthenation.html

[RiversideGator]

Unless they have already received an actual 30 day notice from corporate HQ, there is no reason to assume that this store will close.  Their procedure is to notify in person employees 30 days before closing the store.  This has apparently not happened.  So, again, patronize the store and it will stay open.  Read more here:

Starbucks is closing 600 U.S. stores between now and March in an effort to boost profits. The first 50 closures were announced by the company Friday. Further closures will be announced each month after employees receive 30-day closing notices. Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz says the company wants to inform workers about the closures in person; company insiders say Starbucks is not releasing the full list because it is still working to modify and cancel some real estate contracts. Meanwhile, Starbucks employees are telling people about closures unofficially.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/businesstechnology/locationsofstarbucksstoresclosingacrossthenation.html

[thelakelander]

07/11/2008

• It looks like one of Downtown’s Starbucks will be closing after all. According to an off-duty employee of the Starbucks Corporation, the 11 E store is on the chopping block and is one of four in Jacksonville. The employee, who requested anonymity, was told the news by a manager. The employee hit the streets with a cameraman on Thursday to tape traffic along Ocean Street, interview customers and others in an attempt to show the Downtown store was successful. “We’ve only been open for a year,” said the employee. “For a lot of us who work there, it’s all we have. I don’t think the people in charge actually ever stepped foot in the store, but we’re trying to show them it’s a busy and growing store.” The employee is encouraging patrons of the 11 E Starbucks to use receipts and file comments on the company’s Web site in an effort to save it.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=50406&text=starbucks%2011%20east&type=oneormoreofthesewords

[reednavy]

That's pretty f'd up by Starbucks to chop a store not even open a full year.

[reednavy]

Another on the chopping block is likely the location at Philips and JTB.

[jason_contentdg]

I had heard that starbucks was actually given the space for free over a certain amount of years.  I'm guessing that was bad information?

[RiversideGator]

So, if they are really just about to close, then why are they installing new equipment and signage?  Something doesnt make sense.  Perhaps the employee was wrong or the rumor was wrong.  Unless they intend to act as if everything is totally normal until the day the pull the plug, this 11E rumor just doesnt make sense.