A Starbucks in San Jose is one of 250 stores expected to close across North America.
The Starbucks at 1205 The Alameda in San Jose is expected to close Saturday. Jennifer Martinez and Rebecca Schroeder took their coffee break and made their usual trip to the store, knowing it would be the last time.
“It was very abrupt. We didn’t even know until a co-worker came and told us earlier, so we came to say goodbye to the people who work here because they have been so great every morning,” Schroeder said.
“I understand, I think, from a business standpoint, that they probably did it because they didn’t want everyone to resign or give up, but the ‘human’ side of it is really… it’s hard,” Martinez said.
Robert Chapman Wood, an economist at San Jose State University, says the connection with customers was somewhat lost when Starbucks founder Howard Schultz retired.
It’s a bit of business magic that’s hard to replicate.
“Creating a relationship between thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people, tens of thousands of stores and the customers that walk in, that’s not something a professor can tell you how to do,” Wood said.
Starbucks says it plans to revamp many stores to offer a more welcoming, traditional cafe atmosphere.
“For Starbucks, it certainly comes down to creating the atmosphere that people will choose to go to, rather than just produce coffee, because other places produce coffee for less money than Starbucks,” Wood said.
But for those used to that neighborhood Starbucks, what can’t be recreated is the convenience, even though the nearest Starbucks is only 0.7 miles away.
There are still around 18,000 Starbucks stores in North America.
Bay Area Starbucks slated to close, according to the Business Times, include:
- 3547 Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette
- 1663 N. California Blvd. in Walnut Creek
- 176 Gateway Boulevard. in South San Francisco
- 138 Calistoga Road. in Santa Rosa
- 2240 Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa
- 1187 San Carlos Avenue in San Carlos
- 119 N. Rollins Road. in Millbrae
- 1135, chemin Industriel. in San Carlos
- 1037 El Monte Avenue in Mountain View
- 1205 The Alameda in San Jose
- 3700 San Pablo Avenue in Hercules
- 1701 Willow Pass Road. in Concord
- 795 First Street in Gilroy
The list may change or expand as Starbucks updates its store listings.
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