Starbucks to shutter 250 North American stores, incurring $300M charge and cutting 2026 opening guidance

SBUX said on Thursday it will close approximately 250 coffeehouses in North America later this week, about 1% of its more than 18,000 locations in the region . COO Mike Grams said in a letter to employees that while most stores are profitable, the company identified locations where it cannot deliver the experience it wants or see "a path to acceptable financial performance" . It is the second round of North American closures during CEO Brian Niccol's two-year tenure .

In a regulatory filing, Starbucks said it expects approximately $300 million of restructuring charges: about $200 million in cash, mainly lease exit costs and employee separation benefits, and about $100 million of non-cash charges for disposal and impairment of company-operated store assets . The same filing cut fiscal 2026 net new global coffeehouse openings to approximately 440, down from a prior range of 600 to 650 . The move follows the roughly $1 billion restructuring the company announced a year ago, which closed hundreds of stores and cut corporate roles.

The shares were little changed, down about 0.5% late in the session, a sign investors had largely priced in a leaner footprint under the "Back to Starbucks" turnaround. The open question is whether redirecting capital from new units to remodeling existing stores, a program the company expects to reach about 1,500 remodels by the end of fiscal 2026, lifts comparable sales and margins enough to offset a slower pace of unit growth.