Starbucks closes 250 North American stores, when should a cafe shut a losing branch?
Starbucks is closing about 250 stores in North America in the week of 25 September 2026 and has set aside a restructuring charge of $300 million, while its target of 75 new stores in Türkiye for 2026 stays in place (Perakende Türkiye, 26 September 2026). The company bases the decision on two criteria: the customer experience it wants and an acceptable financial result.
What it means for you: a coffee chain with thousands of stores ties its branch decisions to two questions. A café or restaurant owner with a losing branch can ask the same two questions about their own business. For an operator in Türkiye weighing rent and staff costs this autumn, these criteria put a timeline on the choice to close, renovate or carry on.
How many stores is Starbucks closing in North America, and why?
About 250 stores are closing. That is a small slice of more than 18,000 Starbucks stores in North America. Chief operating officer Mike Grams says these stores “either aren’t delivering acceptable financial results or can’t provide the kind of experience” the company wants (NACS). This is the second major wave of closures under chairman and CEO Brian Niccol.
Does the Starbucks closure decision affect its target of 75 stores in Türkiye?
The news presents Türkiye’s growth plan as independent of the North American decision. Starbucks in Türkiye is run by its licence partner, Alshaya Group, which operates more than 2,000 Starbucks stores across 5 regions. The 75 stores are a target, and how many have opened so far in 2026 is not known.
How can a café owner apply Starbucks’ two criteria to a branch decision?
By asking two questions. Does the branch give guests the experience you want, and does it produce an acceptable financial result? If both answers are no, closing goes on the table. If one is yes, try renovating or fixing it, and if both are yes, keep the branch going and use it as a model.
What does digital data tell cafés and restaurants about a branch decision?
Digital data measures both criteria cheaply and quickly. Reviews on your map listing show the experience, while online orders and bookings show demand. Search and direction-request numbers tell you whether the location still draws interest. The decision then rests on this table rather than on gut feeling.
Which café businesses in Türkiye does the Starbucks closure wave affect, and how?
The direct effect is limited, because the growth target in Türkiye stays in place. The effect is indirect and runs in two directions. An independent café competing with the chain on the same street keeps feeling the pressure of new openings. Local multi-branch café chains, meanwhile, get a chance to review their own portfolios with the same two criteria.
What should café and restaurant owners do this week after the Starbucks news?
This week, draw up a two-line scorecard for each branch: experience and financial result. Put the last three months’ contribution margin, recurring complaints in reviews and the lease end date on the same page. The timeline for closing, renovating or carrying on comes out of that page.
Quick Summary
- Starbucks is closing about 250 stores in North America in the week of 25 September 2026 (Perakende Türkiye; NACS).
- The restructuring charge is $300 million, and the sources define its items differently.
- The stated reason rests on two criteria: customer experience and an acceptable financial result.
- The 2026 target in Türkiye is 75 new stores, which is a target and not a result (Perakende Türkiye).
- A café owner can use an experience and financial scorecard for each branch to decide whether to close, renovate or carry on.
Short Glossary
- Contribution margin
- Contribution margin is the measure used to show what a branch leaves for the business after its variable costs are deducted.
- Licence partner
- A licence partner is the term used for a company that gains the right to run a brand in a given country with its own investment.
- Tenant mix
- Tenant mix is the retail term used to describe the balance of store types in a shopping mall or on a high street.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
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Sources: Perakende Türkiye, 26 September 2026 · NACS, 25 September 2026 (based on an AP report) · Starbucks press page (about.starbucks.com/press)
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
Starbucks closed 627 stores in September 2025. NACS, the US National Association of Convenience Stores, places those closures in North America and Europe, while Perakende Türkiye gives no geography. So it is not accurate to tie the 627 figure to the US alone.
The sources describe the items differently. According to NACS, $200 million is cash and $100 million is non-cash. Perakende Türkiye, on the other hand, describes $200 million as lease agreements and severance payments.
According to NACS, employees will be moved to other stores where possible, and will receive severance support where that is not possible. The cities of the closing stores and the split between the US and Canada have not been disclosed.
As reported by Perakende Türkiye, there were 757 stores in 59 cities with more than 15,000 employees as of December 2025. No primary confirmation of these figures could be found, so read them together with the news source.
In a licence model, the country partner makes decisions based on its own market. The same storefront sign can shrink in one country and grow in another. That is why it matters from day one who makes the call when a brand expands abroad; we looked at this through Ranchero’s plan for Mexico.
Waiting time, the share of returning guests and recurring complaint topics in reviews are the core signals. If guests turn away at the door, or leave the queue without ordering, the experience criterion is red.
The threshold is different for every business. The basic question is whether the branch produces a contribution margin after rent, staff and ingredients. If the till is not turning over and that lasts for several months, the financial criterion is red as well.
Renovation makes sense when the location is good but the space is tired. NACS reports that Starbucks expects to renovate 1,500 stores by the end of its fiscal year on 30 September 2026; the result has not been announced yet. The company’s corporate press page also highlights that more than 1,000 coffeehouses in the US and Canada have been redesigned.
When the same complaint keeps coming back, the problem lies in the process, not the person. Topics such as service speed, cleanliness or seating are problems that a renovation can often fix.
If searches and direction requests to your branch’s business profile are falling, the location is losing its pull. You need this data in hand before you sit down to renew the lease.
A higher-priced café that does not show its experience through photos and content ends up sitting on the same shelf as a cheaper rival. We looked at how to stand out in a premium position in our piece on Trendyol Luxe and premium sellers.
It can stand apart from the chain’s standard experience through neighbourhood ties and an original menu. Growing the average bill with desserts and food is a safer path than competing on coffee prices.
Carrying a weak branch while opening new ones slows growth down. Starbucks running closures and renovations at the same time is one example of strengthening a portfolio by trimming it.
A café tenant is a traffic driver in the tenant mix of an AVM, the Turkish term for a shopping mall, or of a high street. As tenants tie branch decisions to these two criteria, rent talks with landlords also become more data-driven.
The termination clause, end date and early exit terms decide the timing of your decision. Verify with the official source; this is not legal or financial advice. Have your contract reviewed by an expert as well.
Starbucks plans to move employees to other stores where possible. In a small business, too, shifting the team of a closing branch to a strong one is how you keep experienced staff.
Seeing reviews, search and order data in a single table takes some structure. This is work we do: through our digital consulting, we turn branch data into a decision table. Our retail page, where we interpret the retail agenda for you, follows similar decisions.
The news states that the growth plan in Türkiye is independent of the North American decision. The 2026 target is given as 75 new stores.
First look at the experience and financial criteria separately. If the location is strong but the space or the process is weak, renovation can be tried before closing.
Termination and early exit terms vary from contract to contract. Before you decide, go over your agreement with a legal expert.