Starbucks (SBUX) Stock Falls as Chain Cuts 250 Cafes, 900 Jobs

TLDR

• Starbucks will close about 250 underperforming North American coffeehouses, roughly 1% of its store base in the region.
• The closures will bring about $300 million in restructuring charges and cut around 900 jobs.
• SBUX stock dropped about 1% following the news.
• This is the second round of cuts under CEO Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” turnaround plan, following a $1 billion restructuring approved last year.
• Starbucks now expects only about 440 global net new store openings in fiscal 2026, down from an earlier target of 600 to 650.

---

Starbucks stock slipped about 1% after the company confirmed plans to shut roughly 250 coffeehouses across North America. The closures were disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

Starbucks $SBUX plans to close 250 underperforming North American stores and take about $300M in restructuring charges. Most closures are expected by the end of FY26.

— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) September 24, 2026

The affected stores make up about 1% of Starbucks’ roughly 18,000 North American locations. Most of the closures should wrap up by the end of fiscal year 2026.

Starbucks Corporation, SBUX

Starbucks expects to book around $300 million in restructuring charges tied to this round of cuts. Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams told staff that some coffeehouses “continue to underperform despite the hard work and commitment” of employees.

Around 900 jobs will be affected by the closures. Starbucks says it plans to transfer baristas from shuttered locations to other stores where possible and offer severance to those who leave.

A second wave of cuts

This isn’t Niccol’s first round of trims. Starbucks‘ board approved a broader restructuring plan back in September 2025 that included store closures and a reshaping of the company’s support organization.

That earlier plan carried an estimated total cost of about $1 billion. Roughly 90% of those charges were tied to the North American business, split between severance, store asset write downs, and lease costs from exiting locations early.

As of late June, Starbucks operated 11,149 company owned and operated stores in North America. That’s down about 300 stores from the same point a year earlier.

Niccol has also trimmed corporate headcount well beyond the cafes. The company cut around 2,000 corporate roles last year and eliminated hundreds of unfilled positions on top of that.

In August, Starbucks let go of more than 200 corporate staff, including workers in store design, development and technology who declined to relocate to the company’s new Nashville office. Another 300 U.S. corporate roles were cut earlier this year as Starbucks closed regional offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Burbank, California.

The turnaround plan behind the cuts

Niccol has set a target of cutting $2 billion in costs before fiscal 2028 wraps up. He took over as CEO in September 2024 and has focused on shorter wait times, simpler menus and better kitchen operations.

The strategy appears to be showing some results on the sales side. As of July, Starbucks had reported four straight quarters of comparable sales growth.

Customer traffic has picked up across all income groups, Niccol said back in April. New additions like protein cold foam and a refreshed loyalty program have helped push sales higher too.

Starbucks’ lattes have held up better than expected given the pullback in non-essential spending, especially among lower-income households dealing with higher fuel and food costs. Coffee, it turns out, is one of the last things people cut.

Looking ahead, Starbucks now expects about 440 global net new store openings for company-operated and licensed coffeehouses in fiscal 2026. That’s down sharply from its earlier target of 600 to 650 openings.

The company has said most of its future store growth will happen outside North America going forward. It’s also working on a smaller, scaled-down U.S. store concept as part of that shift.