Who Mourns the Corporate Cafe Closures?

Even Starbucks and Peet’s stores have regulars who are sad when they close.

A handwritten sign sellotaped to a window that reads "sorry we are now closed"
Header image by Tim Mossholder via Pexels

Big coffee companies are always opening and closing locations. They put a lot more fanfare into openings, for obvious reasons, but their closures also sometimes make the news.

Starbucks has done multiple rounds of cafe closures over the past couple of years as part of CEO Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” campaign, not the first time it has tried to boost its stock price by closing stores. JDE Peet’s, meanwhile, recently received a lot of attention for closing several California locations as its sale to Keurig Dr Pepper nears.

Generally speaking such closings are met with a collective shrug, at best, and active glee in some cases. Everybody loves local cafes, which are often competing directly with the big boys, and a corporation losing money is always worthy of celebration.

But what about the workers? And what about all the people who visited that now-shuttered Starbucks or Peet’s on a daily basis?

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