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Starbucks store closures update: Coffee giant reveals an optimistic plot twist after recent mass shutterings
Business & Technology
Fast CompanyEN
October 30, 2026

Starbucks store closures update: Coffee giant reveals an optimistic plot twist after recent mass shutterings

Starbucks Coffee Company on Thursday provided an update on store closures, as well as fresh plans for future store growth, as it reported earnings for its Q4 and full fiscal year 2026. Here’s what to know: Starbucks earnings snapshot The Seattle-based coffee company reported adjusted earnings of 80 cents per share, a 54% increase over the prior year, beating analyst expectations.  Consolidated net revenues decreased about 4% to $9.1 billion. Starbucks says the decline was largely driven by the conversion of its China retail operations to a licensed joint venture. For the full fiscal year 2026, Starbucks reported net revenue of $37.9 billion, an increase of 2%. Shares of Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX) were down 2% in early trading on Friday along with much of the market. However, the stock is up more than 23% year-to-date as investors appear to have warmed up to CEO Brian Niccol’s turnaround plans. How many stores has Starbucks closed? In Q4, Starbucks closed around 250 North American stores, 212 of which were in the United States, as part of its Back to Starbucks strategy. The company has been closing underperforming stores to focus its attention on more profitable locations. Niccol, who formerly led a turnaround at Chipotle Mexican Grill, announced the Back to Starbucks plan on his second day on the job. Starbucks ended the quarter with 16,781 U.S. coffeehouses, about 40% of its global portfolio of 41,607 locations. On the earnings call, Starbucks executives said they expect to add around 90 to 100 net new North American stores in fiscal 2027 as Starbucks resets its “development pipeline.” They expect growth to ramp up from there. “As you look out into fiscal year ‘28, we want to get back into building new units north of 300 or so in the U.S.,” Niccol said on the call. “We believe that is what gets us going towards that opportunity of 5,000 or more in North America.” From turnaround plan to growth plan Two years into the strategy, Niccol said it has entered a new phase.  “Back to Starbucks started as a turnaround plan, and now Back to Starbucks is our growth plan,” Niccol said. “Our plan is working. More customers are visiting us because the Starbucks experience is better. Our coffeehouses are coffeehouses again.”

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Curated from Fast Company. Classified as Business & Technology by AI, which sometimes makes mistakes.

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