Starbucks Is Closing 250 Stores, What It Means for Your Daily Coffee Run

For millions of coffee drinkers, Starbucks is more than a place to grab a latte on the way to work. It can be the neighborhood meeting spot, the familiar drive-through on a busy morning, or the place where someone settles in with a laptop for a few hours. That routine is about to change for some customers, as Starbucks says it will close approximately 250 coffeehouses across North America.

The announcement came on September 24, with closures expected later this week. The company says the locations represent about 1% of its more than 18,000 North American coffeehouses, making this a significant reshuffling of its store network even as Starbucks says it remains committed to growing.

Why Is Starbucks Closing These Locations?

The company says some stores simply aren’t delivering the experience or financial performance it expects.

According to Starbucks, the company reviewed its North American coffeehouse portfolio and identified locations where it did not see a path to acceptable financial performance or where it could not consistently provide the customer and employee experience it wants. The CNN report on the Starbucks closures notes that the announcement is part of the company’s broader “Back to Starbucks” strategy.

That strategy has focused heavily on changing what happens inside the coffeehouse. Starbucks has been redesigning locations, improving service and bringing back features such as condiment bars and ceramic cups for customers who stay. The company says more than 1,000 coffeehouses have already received these upgrades, with 1,500 expected by the end of fiscal 2026.

Not Every Starbucks Is Going Away

The word “closing” sounds dramatic, but this is a much smaller slice of the chain than the headline might suggest.

Starbucks had 18,371 North American stores at the end of June, according to its latest quarterly results. The company has also said it remains interested in opening new coffeehouses. So the closures are part of a broader effort to shift the mix of locations rather than abandon the North American market.

The Associated Press report says Starbucks has not publicly identified which specific coffeehouses will close or provided a breakdown of how many of the 250 are in the United States. That means customers cannot yet look at the announcement and assume their local Starbucks is affected.

A Second Wave After Last Year’s Closures

This isn’t Starbucks’ first major round of closures under its current turnaround plan.

Last September, Starbucks closed hundreds of stores across North America and Europe and eliminated 900 non-retail positions. The latest round is another step in a restructuring effort that has been unfolding for more than a year.

The company says its North American business has recently shown stronger sales and transaction growth, even as some individual stores continue to struggle. Its latest financial results reported North American comparable-store sales growth of 8.1% for the third quarter of fiscal 2026, with transactions up 4.5%.

What Happens to the Employees?

Behind every closed coffeehouse is a group of people who know the regular customers by name and have built routines of their own.

Starbucks says it will offer employees at affected locations transfers to other coffeehouses wherever possible. For workers the company cannot place elsewhere, Starbucks says it will provide severance support.

The company is also continuing to invest in stores that remain open. Its goal is to make coffeehouses warmer, more comfortable and more inviting, with changes designed around customers who want to sit, work, meet friends or stay awhile. That focus matters because the modern Starbucks experience is no longer just about what’s inside the cup.

What It Means for Coffee Drinkers

For customers, the biggest change may be surprisingly ordinary: the Starbucks you visit every week could disappear from your routine.

A nearby store may become busier if another location closes, while customers who relied on a particular drive-through or meeting place may have to find another branch. CNBC coverage of Starbucks’ 250-store closure plan reports that the company is directing customers to nearby coffeehouses as locations close.

For regular coffee drinkers, that makes the familiar morning ritual worth thinking about. Whether you rely on Starbucks every day or only stop occasionally, small changes to where and when you buy coffee can reshape the rest of your routine. Even simple adjustments to your daily coffee habits can make that morning cup work differently for you.

And if your favorite Starbucks does close, a broader shift is still happening: Starbucks is trying to make fewer underperforming locations part of a larger network of redesigned coffeehouses. For customers, that could mean more changes to the places where they buy coffee, work, catch up with friends, and start their mornings.

If your regular Starbucks suddenly closed, would you switch to another location, make coffee at home, or find a completely different coffee shop?