Several Bay Area Starbucks to close as coffee giant shutters hundreds of stores nationwide

DANVILLE, Calif. (KRON) — On Thursday, Starbucks announced it would be closing hundreds of stores in addition to laying off 900 corporate employees. The closures are set to impact stores across the country, including here in the Bay Area.

“Each year, we open and close coffeehouses for a variety of reasons, from financial performance to lease expirations,” Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol wrote. “This is a more significant action that we understand will impact partners and customers. Our coffeehouses are centers of the community, and closing any location is difficult.”

In the East Bay, an employee at a popular location in downtown Danville told KRON4 the store would be closing. While Starbucks said it plans to cut 900 non-retail employees, baristas at impacted locations will be offered severance packages, and in some cases, allowed to transfer to other locations.

Currently, Starbucks has over 18,000 locations across North America. The Seattle coffee giant said it plans to close about 400 locations this coming Sunday. Starbucks said they are closing locations that are either not making a profit or have a lease that is expiring.

“I am shocked,” said Martha Noyes, a customer at the Danville location. “I had heard nothing about that. Now, I’m just really sad because this is a great place to hang out. It really is the center of town.”

“Head this today, and I’m super disappointed,” said David Holen, another customer. “I’ve been coming here for over 10 years. It’s basically our daily routine.”

While Starbucks has not officially announced which stores are closing, we’ve found six Bay Area Starbucks locations showing “closed” on the Starbucks website, starting Sunday:

• Danville: 11000 Crow Canyon Road
• Danville: 398 Hartz Ave.
• Berkeley: 1799 Solano Ave.
• San Ramon: 6000 Bollinger Canyon Rd.
• San Francisco: 49 Jefferson St.
• Oakland: 222 Broadway

A Starbucks spokesperson tells KRON4 there will be signs posted at stores that are closing. So far, we haven’t seen any signs announcing closures. Starbucks is expected to notify employees whose positions are being eliminated on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.