Starbucks’ surprise plans to close dozens of stores across New York City are claiming dozens of high-profile locations — and sparking chaos for employees, city officials and landlords alike, The Post has learned.
The Seattle-based coffee giant – which laid off 900 corporate staffers last week in a $1 billion restructuring plan — is shuttering some 400 plus stores across the country after reporting six consecutive quarters of sales declines.
Those include 54 coffee shops across the city’s five boroughs, according to the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Among them are seemingly prime locations on the Upper East Side and in Greenwich Village, according to a crowd-sourced spreadsheet being circulated to media this week.
Shops in the Upper West Side and the Financial District and Midtown Manhattan were likewise affected — with shuttered locations in the latter including 156 W. 52nd and 871 8th Ave.
Across the city, landlords were shocked by what insiders said was an unusual and chaotic approach to the closures.
“They literally put signs in windows overnight without telling landlords and building managers,” Newmark Retail vice chairman Jeffrey Roseman told The Post. “There was no warning, no heads up.”
Typically, retail tenants will reach out to their landlords to negotiate potential rent concessions, Roseman said.
“There was no outreach to landlords in this case and that’s unusual for a company that’s not in bankruptcy.”
Historically, the 18,000 store chain in the US and Canada has “prided itself on having a story on every other block,” Roseman added.
A Starbucks spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
“We identified coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect,” Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol — hired away from Chipotle a year ago to spearhead the company’s turnaround — said In a Sept. 25 blog post.
Starbucks is likewise shuttering coffee shops “where we don’t see a path to financial performance,” Niccol added.
Nevertheless, the company may be running afoul of local labor laws, according to a warning letter the city sent to the java giant on Tuesday. Employees at stores that are closing are entitled to be offered jobs elsewhere in the same borough under the city’s Fair Workweek Law, the letter said.
“Starbucks appears poised to violate its legal obligations to employees in New York City locations,” Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga said in the letter.
Mayuga added that by law laid-off workers get first dibs on job openings near the stores that closed. She gave Starbucks until Friday to explain how it will comply with New York City labor laws.
Starbucks is facing a perfect storm of challenges, including increased competition from newcomers and fast food chains like McDonald’s, which is testing a new beverage concept in 500 stores in Wisconsin and Colorado.
An aggressive labor campaign by Starbucks United has resulted in 650 stores with labor contracts, of which 59 stores have been targeted for closure according to the labor group.
What’s more coffee prices have skyrocketed under new tariff policies.
“I see a company that is struggling with sales trends and other major pressures,” analyst Mark Kalinowski.
In 2008, during the recession Starbucks closed 600 stores, Kalinowski said.
