Starbucks to close hundreds of stores, lay off 900 workers

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP Business Writer

Starbucks said Thursday it’s closing hundreds of stores in the U.S., Canada and Europe and laying off 900 nonretail employees as it focuses more of its resources on a turnaround .

The Seattle coffee giant said store closures would start immediately. Starbucks said affected baristas will be offered severance packages and transfers to other locations where possible.

The company wouldn’t give a number of stores that are closing, but the bulk of the closures appear to be in the U.S. and Canada. Starbucks said it expects to have 18,300 North American locations when its fiscal year ends on Sunday. As of June 29, the company had 18,734 locations.

In a research note Thursday, TD Cowen analyst Andrew Charles estimated Starbucks will close around 500 Nort