News Team Boulder

Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: News

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Starbucks announced that it will close 300 of its stores and lay off 6,700 of its employees in the first half of this year. Starbucks will close a total of nine stores in Colorado, including three stores in Denver, one each in Longmont, Conifer, Broomfield, and Lakewood, and two stores in Loveland.

Starbucks will save $500 million dollars with these cuts.

"Starbucks is a big company and I think that like many big companies they just overbuilt a little bit," said Mike Farnsworth, a former Starbucks customer.

With the recession at hand, Starbucks employees are aware that Americans are more concerned about losing their jobs than spending five dollars on a novelty beverage. "I think people are probably just buying a drink or buying food, whereas a year ago they would buy probably both," said a Colorado Starbucks manager.

Consumers like Dominique Martinez said it is not that they do not like Starbucks, but Starbucks has not changed with them. "What stopped me from getting Starbucks is at the end of every semester you know, you kind of wonder where your money goes," shs said. "You look back like I spent three hundred dollars on Starbucks."

In efforts to respond to hard times, Starbucks will begin offering value meal type options for $3.95 on March 3.

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