MyFoxKansasCity reports that many people are not taking the closure of their local Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) sitting down. If your local Starbucks is among the 600 being shuttered around the U.S., perhaps you would like to join the movement.
MyFox lists four Starbucks there that are closing. And it reports that people are already using e-mail and a Web site to fight the closing. For example, Kansas City H&R Block employees sent out e-mails arguing against the closure -- they suggest that downtown Kansas City is "just starting to grow" and that "their Starbucks has a lot of earning potential." And MyFox reports that Kansas City has set up saveourstarbucks.com where visitors can type in their location, and their comments about "why [they] just can't live without [their] favorite Starbucks location."
Will any of these efforts work? I doubt it. Starbucks probably picked the 600 stores that it's closing based on their relatively low traffic, their costs to operate, and their forecast of future revenues based on the local business and retail climate and the level of competition. It doesn't seem to me that a Save our Starbucks campaign would change any of these factors unless you could prove that you would bring, say, 10 of your friends to the location every week,.
But if your local Starbucks is closing, such a campaign would make you feel better. Is your local Starbucks closing? Will you campaign to save it?
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-19-2008 @ 11:46PM
phil said...
I was in total shock to learn that the Starbukcs in my neighborhood was on the list of 600. I reside in a city of about 200,000 and we have quite a few Starbucks around town, yet our very own was not spared. I just made a site taking a poll on who's being affected and how they feel. I'm interested in your feedback about the possibility of voicing all of our concerns to the Starbucks headquarters to see if they maybe reconsider. Hey...you never know until you try.
http://save-starbucks.com
7-23-2008 @ 11:53PM
liz said...
I am ecstatic that starbucks is backing down! They are an over priced money hungry corporation that over-extended themselves which led to the inability to keep a good product. I would be upset, perhaps, if they had tried to keep to the regulations and standards of gourmet coffee brewing, but they failed at every store that I've visited and time after time have put out a poorly prepared americanized knock-off of good coffee. I think, at this point, that the company needs to take a step back and decide what is important to the survival of their business. Maybe in the long run they will be able to overcome their shortcomings and once again be the reigning champs of espresso.