Starbucks is closing hundreds of stores and announcing layoffs at the corporate level.
The closings and layoffs for the coffee giant come as CEO Brian Niccol is trying to turn things around, as Starbucks is struggling to retain business.
“This is a more , action that we understand will impact partners and customers. Our coffeehouses are centers of the community, and closing any location is difficult,” Niccol said, according to CNN.
Here’s what you need to know about the closures and layoffs taking place.
What Starbucks locations are closing and when?
The closures, which take up 1% of Starbucks’ footprint, will take place next week before the company’s end of the fiscal year.
After the stores close, the company said it will be left with 18,300 stores by the end of September.
While the company did not specify which locations were closing, The Seattle Times reported that two Reserve Roastery stores in Seattle’s Capitol Hill and Sodo neighborhoods would be affected.
What are employees saying about the planned closures of Starbucks locations?
Unionized Starbucks workers expressed their frustrations with Niccol’s decision to close a significant amount of Starbucks coffee shops.
“This announcement makes it clear things are only going backwards at Starbucks under Brian Niccol’s leadership,” the Starbucks union, Workers United, told Parade. “Yet again, we’re experiencing new policies and major decisions being made with zero barista input.”
Workers United plans to bargain for every unionized store, and advocate that employees at affected stores be able to find work at another Starbucks location that they prefer.
What Starbucks employees are being laid off?
Most unionized Starbucks employees are affected by store closures, but Niccol also announced that 900 people working at the corporate level would be laid off.
This is on top of the 1,000 employees laid off in February, according to CNN.
Affected corporate employees will be notified Friday and will get “generous severance and support packages.”
Niccol also said there would be a freeze on hiring, noting that “many” open positions will close.