Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol announced plans to close hundreds of coffeehouses and lay off 900 corporate employees Thursday. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol announced plans Thursday to close hundreds of stores and undergo a second round of layoffs this year in an effort to revive the coffeehouse chain.
In a letter to employees, Niccol said the company will have about 1% fewer stores beginning in fiscal year 2026, Oct. 1, compared to a year ago. This accounts for both new store openings and the just-announced closures.
Starbucks had 18,734 stores in North America at the end of June, and will begin October with 18,300 stores.
Niccol said the company was “working hard” to find new placements for employees at the stores set to be shuttered.
Starbucks typically opens and closes many locations each year, but “this is a more significant action that we understand will impact partners and customers,” the CEO said.
“Our coffeehouses are centers of the community, and closing any location is difficult.”
On the corporate side, Niccol said 900 non-retail workers will be laid off and “many” open positions will be eliminated. He said the reduction will allow Starbucks to invest more in “green apron partner hours, more partners in stores, exceptional customer service, elevated coffeehouse designs and innovation to create the future.”
Corporate employees affected by the layoffs were expected to be notified Friday.
This is the second round of corporate layoffs for Starbucks this year. In February, Niccol announced plans to lay off more than 1,000 employees.
