Starbucks to Lay Off 6,700 Workers

by Jordan Yerman | January 29, 2009 at 09:31 am

577 views | 10 Recommendations | 9 comments

As the weak economy forces coffee fans to cut back on expensive caffeine, Starbucks has been hit pretty hard. The ubiquitous chain will be closing 300 stores and laying off 6,700 workers.

I'm not sure how this plays into the Seattle-based company's plan to open 310 new stores throughout the 2009 fiscal year.

Starbucks, hit hard as consumers forego pricey coffees, increased its cost-savings target to $500 million from $400 million for the fiscal year. Starbucks saw its same-store sales fell 9 percent for the quarter.

The store closings--approximately 200 in the U.S. and the remainder in international markets--are in addition to the 600 U.S. and 61 Australian market store closures announced in July, as the company struggles to get ahead of its weakening U.S. business.

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shyalala

at 11:48 on January 29th, 2009

in Chengdu , Chinese Style Starbucks

shyalala has contributed a photo to this story.

mtammas

at 19:28 on January 29th, 2009

If my memory serves me correctly, Starbucks was never a big deal in Australia. It's too bad that so many workers will be impacted but the company has had a good, long ride. The unfortunate part, mirrored by so many corporations these days, is they don't plan for downturns. Instead, they now rely on closures, cutbacks and layoffs to get them through tough times.

mtammas

at 19:39 on January 29th, 2009

In November 2007, way before the current global economic downturn, Starbucks was projecting fewer sales. 2008 found the corporation foundering and as in this report, not making it in Australia.

Michael Shirley-Donnelly

at 09:19 on January 30th, 2009

Aggressive expansion is one thing; Starbucks overextended and learned their lesson. New store openings in 2009 will (hopefully) be placed in better locations than some of the existing under-performing shops, and what I've heard through the chain is that they will try to place people from closed stores in said new ones.

Shadesbomb

at 11:26 on January 30th, 2009

Amazingly this store is still open. I don't know how they managed to lose a door and use a piece of plywood for substitute but thats what I saw.

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Mareana_

at 20:45 on January 30th, 2009

Starbucks *-* Brazilian -SP

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Larry Buerkle

at 02:03 on January 31st, 2009

Works in our the Rogue prep kitchen wearing Roses uniform making sandwiches and yogurt for Starbucks at Portland PDX. Kind of funny when you think about it.

Larry Buerkle has contributed a photo to this story.