Starbucks is closing several Minnesota locations in restructuring

Starbucks stores across Minnesota will close this weekend as the Seattle company prepares to shutter hundreds of locations across the nation.

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol announced the closures Thursday as part of a plan to strengthen the company and “reinforce what we see is working and prioritize our resources against them.”

Starbucks has seen same-store sales decline for more than a year, meaning customers are spending less or avoiding their lattes entirely. The coffee chain’s turnaround plan to “build back a better Starbucks” is based on “the right coffeehouses in the right locations to drive profitability,” Niccol told analysts in July.

At least 900 jobs for the company’s non-retail employees were cut by the move, and Niccol said the company will have 18,300 stores by the end of fiscal year 2025 — a 1% reduction from last fiscal year.

Officials did not announce which stores will close, but the company’s website shows at least six locations in the Twin Cities area that will shutter from Sunday onward:

The closings will be felt beyond the Twin Cities area, too. Two locations, at 101 11th Av. SW. in Rochester and 1315 Old West Main St. in Red Wing, will close their doors to customers this weekend.

“We’re working hard to offer transfers to nearby locations where possible and will move quickly to help partners understand what opportunities might be available to them,” Niccol said in the announcement. “For those we can’t immediately place, we’re focused on partner care including comprehensive severance packages. We also hope to welcome many of these partners back to Starbucks in the future as new coffeehouses open and the number of partners in each location grows.”

“so workers can be placed in another Starbucks store according to their preferences,” a statement read. “It has never been more clear why baristas at Starbucks need the backing of a union.”

Minnesotans lamented store closures across the Twin Cities.

The Starbucks off Snelling Avenue felt like a second office for Sherri Hildebrandt who works from the store every week. Between the hiss of steam, the clatter of coffee mugs and sloshing of coffee, Hildebrandt would listen to chatter about school, love and community that made the Starbucks feel welcoming to her and others. Hildebrandt watched middle schoolers cry outside the store Friday, where many walked atop chalk on the sidewalk reading “don’t close.”

“I don’t know what the kids are going to do, to be perfectly honest, because there aren’t a lot of good places for them to go,” Hildebrandt said. “It really did seem to be a good community gathering place, and that’s what I think is a real loss. Because there are so few good places for people of all ages to get together these days.”

Mary Hughes called staffers in distress about the news. Hughes said she’s disappointed the corporation shuttered the store, despite its convenience to nearby residents.