Starbucks Corporation is set to close approximately 250 coffeehouses in North America later this week as it sharpens its store portfolio under the Back to Starbucks strategy, targeting locations that fail to meet expectations for customer and partner experience or lack a viable path to acceptable financial performance. The move follows management's comments on the fiscal third-quarter earnings call, where CEO Brian Niccol said some stores were developed in unsuitable locations while others would require remodeling that does not make economic sense. The closures come despite improving operating trends, with North America comparable sales up 8.1% and United States comparable sales up 7.9% in the fiscal third quarter, supported by transaction and ticket growth. Starbucks expects the closures to generate approximately $300 million in restructuring charges and has cut its fiscal 2026 expectation for net new global coffeehouse openings to roughly 440 from the previous target of 600-650. At the same time, management plans to accelerate its coffeehouse uplift program, targeting at least 1,500 locations by the end of fiscal 2026, reflecting a shift toward fewer, stronger and better-performing locations.
Starbucks CorporationStarbucks will close ~250 North American stores, incurring ~$300M in restructuring charges and cutting FY2026 net new openings to ~440 from 600-650.
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