Starbucks has closed at least five locations in Quebec over the past week, part of a fresh round of shutdowns across its North American coffee-house network.
The closures come as the company announced last Thursday that it would shut 250 North American locations, representing roughly one per cent of all its coffee houses on the continent. The move marks another setback for Starbucks, which has faced ongoing challenges in recent years as it competes in an increasingly crowded coffee market.
This is not the first time Quebec has seen a wave of closures. Around the same time last year, Starbucks shut down more than 200 North American locations, including eight in the province, as the company grappled with similar competitive pressures.
Why Starbucks Is Cutting Locations
In a statement, Starbucks chief operating officer Mike Grams said the company had carefully reviewed its North American coffee-house portfolio to identify locations that were not meeting expectations for customer and staff experience, or that lacked a clear path toward acceptable financial performance.
A Pattern of Consecutive Closures
The latest round of closures follows a similar pattern from the previous year, when the company also trimmed its footprint in Quebec and across North America. The repeated cutbacks point to sustained difficulty for Starbucks in maintaining profitability at certain locations amid a saturated coffee retail landscape.
No additional details were provided on which specific Quebec locations were affected or whether further closures are planned beyond the current round of 250 shutdowns.
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