Starbucks is planning to eliminate 900 roles and close several underperforming stores by the end of the year, chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said on Thursday, Sept. 25.
Niccol, who became CEO of the coffee chain in September 2024, wrote in a note to employees that the two major changes are being made as part of its $1 billion “Back to Starbucks” restructuring plan.
Niccol said the company had reviewed its portfolio of stores and “identified coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance, and these locations will be closed.”
Employees in the shops scheduled to close will be notified this week, and the company will work to offer transfers to nearby stores, and for those that can’t be moved, severance packages will be offered, Niccol said.
He said the company will end the year with nearly 18,300 total Starbucks locations across the U.S. and Canada, and that there are plans to grow the number of coffeehouses in 2026.
More than 1,000 locations will also be renovated to “introduce greater texture, warmth, and layered design” over the next 12 months, Niccol added.
Starbucks did not provide the exact number of locations closing, but said the company’s overall company-operated count in North America will decline by about 1% in the fiscal year 2025 after accounting for both openings and closures.
In addition to the closures, Niccol said the company would be eliminating about 900 “non-retail” roles and closing “many open positions.” The affected employees will be notified on Friday, Sept. 26, and severance packages will be offered, he said.
This is the second round of layoffs under Niccol, after 1,100 corporate workers were let go in February.
“I know these decisions impact our partners and their families, and we did not make them lightly,” Niccol said. “I believe these steps are necessary to build a better, stronger, and more resilient Starbucks that deepens its impact on the world and creates more opportunities for our partners, suppliers, and the communities we serve.”
Starbucks Workers United, a union representing 12,000 baristas across 45 states, said in a news release it was sending a formal request for information to Starbucks about the closures.
“We expect to engage in effects bargaining for every impacted union store, as we have done elsewhere, so workers can be placed in another Starbucks store according to their preferences,” the statement reads. “Fixing what’s broken at Starbucks isn’t possible without centering the people who engage with the company’s customers day in and day out.”
Niccol Has Made Major Changes to the Chain Since Taking Over
Since Niccol became CEO of the company last year, he’s implemented several changes, including making cuts to 30% of the menu, discontinuing 13 drinks, rolling back the chain’s longstanding open-door policy and even making a slight change to the name of the company — all just in January alone.
The coffee chain changed its name on its website and its app to “The Starbucks Coffee Company” on Jan. 26, though its legal name remains the Starbucks Corporation.