Starbuck closing down 61 stores Australia wide (2 Viewers)

[chicky_pie]

INTERNATIONAL coffee chain Starbucks will close 61 Australian stores within days, at the cost of 685 jobs.

After the closures this Sunday, 23 stores will remain open in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. The company says the 61 locations to be closed have been under performing. Today's announcement follows the decision by Starbucks last month to close 600 company-operated stores in the US, costing up to 12,000 jobs. The company blamed poor real estate decisions coupled with the troubled economy for the US closures. Starbucks international boss Howard Schultz has ruled out closing other stores internationally. Starbucks operates more than 15,000 coffee shops around the world.

"We are well into the implementation phase of transforming Starbucks and we believe that this difficult, yet necessary, decision to close stores in Australia will help support the continued growth of our international business," Mr Schultz said in a statement. "While this decision represents business challenges unique to the Australian market, it in no way reflects the strong state of Starbucks business in countries outside of the United States," he said.

"There are no other international markets that need to be addressed in this manner. "We appreciate the exceptional service our partners in Australia have consistently delivered. "We are thankful and proud of the contributions our partners make every day and we are committed to treating all of our partners with respect and dignity." A list of affected stores will be published by July 31, after all the employees are informed. As part of the restructuring, Starbucks Australia store development manager Jason Ball will become managing director from September 1.

Day of rumours

Before today's announcement, staff and management at Starbucks refused to head off speculation the chain would close stores in Australia. On July 2, the company's Australian arm said the US closures would have no impact on its Asia-Pacific operations. The US parent company is set to announce its third quarter results tomorrow. The company has not offered any guidance on its profit expectations, but according to the Associated Press analysts are expecting a profit of 18 cents per share on revenue of nearly $US2.62 billion ($2.74 billion).

Spending slowdown

Over the past year Australians had tightened their belts when it came to eating out, according to Westpac senior economist Matthew Hassan. He said that as living costs rose, more people were opting to eat at home. But coffee was no longer considered a luxury item by many consumers, so it was not always a cutback people made, he said. This pointed to the fact that if Starbucks was having problems, it was likely to be company-specific. Starbucks opened its first Australian store in central Sydney in 2000. Mr Hassan said that at the time there were some concerns about whether Starbucks could get a footing in the Australian café scene.

Workers on the web

Employees today turned to the internet to gather any information about the company’s future in Australia. “This is so cruel to all the fantastic partners,” an employee said on a Facebook group. “Pls let us know the outcome of this meeting.” Several others posted comments on a blog dedicated to encouraging gossip.

http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,24094314-462,00.html

:wave: We'll miss you guys.

 

[jazzbaby]

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

 

[ZEROtheHERO]

noooooooooo

 

[blue_chameleon]

Fuck.

There goes the only decent coffee franchise in Australia.

 

[Zrap]

Gloria Jeans <3

 

[Kwayera]

And so it goes the way of Borders.

 

[Lori.]

i hope the qvb store still exists. they do a good chai latte

 

[breaking]

i hope the qvb store still exists. they do a good chai latte

tom's favorite drink!

 

[*TRUE*]

Not the one near my place....no no nOOoooooooOOOOoo

 

[kaz1]

I hate coffee anywayz.

 

[Matt Samson]

I have heard Starbucks is disgusting.

Never wanted to be a "Friends" or "Sex in the City" wanna be.

It is amazing how marketing can brainwash people into thinking something is better.

 

[Matt Samson]

There goes the only decent coffee franchise in Australia.

Franchise? I thought these stores were "owned" by Starbucks and this was the reason the Starbucks company was closing them down.

 

[vivid]

i hope the qvb store still exists. they do a good chai latte

They're closing stores for 'not performing well' and this is due to 'poor real estate choices.' I'd say the QVB is a pretty prime location, and thus reaping in the money, so they'll be hanging around yet, don't worry.

(Unfortunately. Why can't we just scrap Starbucks altogether?)

 

[KVPS999]

I Love the Coffee Club
Especially the City store
I have been there numerous times its quiet warm and the staff are so friendly and u can study for hrs there plus there chai latte is soo good the cinnamon taste wnt leave you and the mocha is proper cadbury choc not some powdery shit or syrup manufactured thats y their r soo busy and popular on weekends every 1 just loves their food aswell and cakes ..

 

[inasero]

now you know the times are really tough

 

[zstar]

Big deal.

You don't need Starbucks.

Make your own coffee it's that simple. Stop wasting money on things you don't need on money you don't have.

 

[Slidey]

Good. I agree with what zstar said for once.

If you really want coffee, find a nice local coffee shop and support it.

 

[shezzamabell]

Starbucks make terrible coffee anyway

There is always michel's patisserie... they make way better coffee anyway... small bias (i work there )

 

[Nebuchanezzar]

Re: Starbucks make terrible coffee anyway

michel's sucks balls! I'll mis Starbucks.

 

[alez]

Re: Starbucks make terrible coffee anyway

Starbucks is shithouse
Hudsons all the way