SEATTLE (WWJ/AP) -- Starbucks announced the next step in its plan to transform the company -- a decision to close approximately 600 underperforming stores in the U.S. The chain will also cut back the number of new stores it had planned to open.
No word yet if any of the stores set to close are here in Michigan.
The majority of the store closures are scheduled to happen sometime this year and the first half of 2009. As many as 12,000 full- and part-time positions will be elimiinated. Starbucks said it will try to place workers from closed stores in remaining Starbucks.
“Our executive and field leadership teams conducted an extensive review of our U.S. company-operated store portfolio with a goal of enabling our organization to focus its efforts on locations where we can more effectively improve the customer experience," stated Howard Schultz, chairman, president and ceo.
Starbucks said 70 percent of the stores slated to be closed had opened since the start of the 2006 fiscal year. The total includes 100 previously announced store closures.
The company expects charges between $328 million and $348 million related to the closures, including a charge of $200 million in the third quarter.
Once those underperforming stores have shut down -- a process the company said will happen gradually from now until the first half of 2009 -- Starbucks said it expects the change to boost earnings by $100 million a year.
Shares of Seattle-based Starbucks slipped 11 cents to $15.51 in after-hours trading after losing 12 cents to close at $15.62.
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