Two Birmingham Area Starbucks Closing

Rod Carter
Published: July 10, 2008

  Some Birmingham area coffee drinkers are going to have to get their fix somewhere else. Employees at two area Starbucks locations told NBC 13.com Thursday morning,  they’ve been told the shops are closing.
  The Homewood-SoHo location and the spot at University Boulevard and 20th Street are closing their doors.
  Financial problems with Starbucks Corp are leading the company to close 600 underperforming U.S. stores. The Seattle based company announced it will be closing 8.5% of its U.S. company operated stores by March 2009.
  Starbucks has 11,000 locations nationwide. Starbucks is the world’s largest coffee maker and has not said the closings will be across all U.S. major markets.
  Starbucks stock has lost 48% of its value since 2006, forcing it to brew a new business plan.
The company also plans to trim 7% of its workforce. Company officials say it will try to find the workers jobs.
They also say all of this is part of a much needed transformation that will ultimately help the company improve the customer experience. 

NBC Correspondent Amy Robach contributed to this report.