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Tuesday, July 1, 2008

News Starbucks Shuttering 600 Stores!

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 4:08 PM

Starbucks just announced today that it's closing 600 stores and laying off 12,000 workers. Most analysts point to this as a long-awaited reaction to the rapid growth of the company, which has opened 11,000 stores since the 80s, and whose sales decreased last year. Seventy percent of the closures will be new stores - ones that just opened since 2005. Overall, the baristas seem to be taking the news calmly.

Less lattes in the future but for now, some numbers:
- Google maps lists 1,824 Starbucks in PDX - including eight within a mile from our office.
- The 12,000 baristas who will be nixed by the cut is 7% of Starbucks's overall workforce. That means Starbucks employees 171,428 people, which is slightly more than the entire population of Tasmania African penguins in the world.
- Research shows that the most expensive drink at Starbucks a a $13.76 13 shot venti soy hazelnut vanilla cinnamon white mocha with extra white mocha and caramel, which comes to 670 calories and is slightly more expensive than the six pints of delicious blueberries I bought on sale yesterday.

 

Commenting was not available when this article was originally published.

Comments (15) RSS

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1
...and i bought 7 pounds of strawberries for less than that a well on Saturday!
Go berries!
Posted by autumn on July 1, 2008 at 4:15 PM · Report
2
13 shots?
I think I had a small heart attack just thinking about that.
Posted by KS on July 1, 2008 at 4:38 PM · Report
3
I used to drink 6 shots first thing when I did an early shift as a barista, but I don't touch caffeine now.
Posted by Matt Davis on July 1, 2008 at 5:02 PM · Report
4
Tasmania has a population closer to 500,000 slightly more than Starbucks employs
Posted by Johnotaz on July 1, 2008 at 5:19 PM · Report
5
1824 in PDX alone? Sure you didn't have 13 shots before typing that up?
Posted by jake on July 1, 2008 at 8:14 PM · Report
6
I know you're just the unpaid intern, but please learn to give a cursory glance at the facts (wikipedia would have been fine for tasmania, and common sense would have taken care of that "1,824" statistic) before posting any "numbers" that veer off the path of reality in so many places... Anyway, thanks for no longer signing off on the bottom of your posts.
Posted by A cat on July 1, 2008 at 8:27 PM · Report
7
the tasmania population I just quickly grabbed from this site - looks like that's invalid? I'll swap it out.

According to another perhaps unreputable site, the 171,000 is also the total population of African peguins in the world. Penguin army vs. ex-barista army - who wins?

I was blown away by the 1,824 number, too -- but think about it: all the starbucks not just on street corners but in stores/banks/food courts in the pdx area (tigard, beaverton, clackamas, too?). I couldn't figure out a way to look up the exact number on the Starbucks website and their offices were closed, so I tried an online phone book -- Starbucks had 132 internet pages of listings. I'll drop them a line tomorrow and post their stats if anyone still cares.
Posted by s.mirk on July 1, 2008 at 8:36 PM · Report
8
shit, links didn't post.

unreputable tasmanian site:
http://www.wamberal-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/hottopics/states.htm

slightly more reputable penguin site:
http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Penguins/appendix.html
Posted by s.mirk on July 1, 2008 at 8:38 PM · Report
9
"171,000 is also the total population of African peguins in the world. Penguin army vs. ex-barista army - who wins?"

look back at your original post, sarah. there will only be 7% as many ex-baristas as there will be penguins. please refrain from mixing numbers and thoughts in the future. thanks.

additionally, the website you cite for tasmanian population is listing the population in metric. it needs to be converted.
Posted by A cat on July 1, 2008 at 8:51 PM · Report
10
A cat, what are you saying? Are there 2.2 kilo Tasmanians per Australian? I believe population is a number independent of any standard of measurement. 171,000 Tasmians is 171,000 Tasmians no matter what part of Portland you live in.

Other factoids: There were 8,614 Starbucks in the U.S. on Sept. 21, 2006.

Also, according to the BBC, while Starbucks is closing 'underperforming' stores, they are still planning to open 200 new US outlets next year.
Posted by Ann on July 1, 2008 at 9:29 PM · Report
11
successful troll is successful.
Posted by lulz... on July 1, 2008 at 10:11 PM · Report
12
"Are there 2.2 kilo Tasmanians per Australian?"

Ann, your comment doesn't make any sense. Tasmanians are Australians. Plus, what the hell are you talking about kilos for? Do you convert ounces to grams with some sort of mathematical wizardry involving "2.2 kilos"???

Seriously, wtf is wrong with Americans?
Posted by A cat on July 1, 2008 at 11:33 PM · Report
13
Can they just give us all of the Coffee People stores back? That was about 40 that they converted since roughly January 2007.

Posted by ambrown on July 2, 2008 at 7:48 AM · Report
14
cat, stop being a douche. ann was just noting that there is no metric unit to cover population. we're just having fun with some factoids.
Posted by emilythehaikubot on July 2, 2008 at 8:33 AM · Report
15
I was joking, emily. Just like my original comment about metric populations was a joke. Sorry I came down on the wrong side of the internet fun-police... Carry on with the righteous fun of sloppy statistics.
Posted by A cat on July 2, 2008 at 7:55 PM · Report

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