Starbucks to close 7 San Francisco locations in coming weeks

Starbucks is shuttering seven of its downtown San Francisco locations over the next several weeks, the company confirmed to SFGATE. 

“Each year as a standard course of business, we evaluate the store portfolio to determine where we can best meet our community and customers’ needs. This includes opening new locations, identifying stores in need of investment or renovation, exploring locations where an alternative format is needed and, in some instances, re-evaluating our footprint,” Starbucks spokesperson Sam Jefferies said in a statement. 

The following Starbucks locations are set to be shuttered:

— Mission and Main
— Geary and Taylor
— 425 Battery
— 398 Market
— 4th and Market
— 555 California
— Bush and Van Ness

Employees at the seven stores were notified Tuesday that the locations are closing, Jefferies said. All affected employees will be given the option to transfer to a different store, he added.

Jefferies declined to provide comment as to whether crime in the downtown area was a factor in the decision to close the stores.

“Determining how and where we invest is done through a standard process of evaluating our store portfolio annually to determine where we can best meet our community and customers’ needs,” Starbucks Regional Vice President for Northern California Jessica Borton said in a letter sent to affected employees. “This includes opening new locations, identifying stores in need of investment or renovation, and exploring locations where an alternative format is needed. It also includes making hard decisions about where our stores are located. This year those discussions have resulted in making the very difficult decision to close seven of the stores in our area.”

Starbucks recently opened a pickup-only location at 333 Market St. and will invest over $2.5 million in renovations at four other stores across the city, Jefferies said. The company has 59 stores throughout the city, leaving 52 following the upcoming closures.