Starbucks to close 400 stores, expand pickup only locations

A Starbucks store in California.
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Over the next 18 months, Starbucks plans on closing up to 400 stores in the United States and Canada, while at the same time opening 300 locations strictly for picking up beverages and food.

The company also revealed on Wednesday that it expects to lose $3.2 billion in its third quarter, which ends June 28.

In an email Wednesday, Starbucks told CNN Business data shows that roughly 80 percent of transactions at close to 15,000 U.S. stores are "on-the-go" purchases. Its "innovative" new Starbucks Pickup locations will cater to those customers while also limiting the number of people in a store.

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Starbucks wrote in its latest SEC filing that these changes will "enhance the customer experience, expand our retail presence, and enable profitable growth for the future." As of Wednesday, the company has reopened 95 percent of its stores that were closed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.