Overview
- CEO Brian Niccol is unwinding years of dense city clustering, concentrating closures in large metros and moving away from stores located next to one another.
- In New York, 42 locations—about 12% of the city network—have shut, helping elevate Dunkin' to the top slot in Manhattan, with additional cuts reported in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Baltimore.
- A company review of more than 18,000 U.S. and Canadian stores led to shuttering sites that underperformed or failed brand standards, according to a Starbucks spokesperson.
- The chain is phasing out pickup‑only formats and steering growth to lower‑cost suburban drive‑thru stores, while planning renovations at about 1,000 U.S. company‑owned cafés to restore the 'third place' experience.
- The restructuring also includes roughly 900 corporate job cuts and tighter in‑store policies that end open restroom access and ban panhandling, alcohol consumption and vaping, with shares down about 6% this year.