BY AARON LONG
the Parthenon
For the last several years it seems no business has been popping up more often than Starbucks.
Lately Starbucks has been getting hit just as hard, if not harder, than other businesses due to the nation's uncertain economy.
With this year's declining sales, Starbucks has made the decision to close over 600 stores.
Starbucks has been steadily falling for the last two years and is continuing to drop in revenue, according to the Associated Press.
When Starbucks took off it began to open everywhere.
Certain cities even have multiple Starbucks on the same block.
The rapid expansion seems to have been too much for the once coffee-giant as Starbucks plans to close 19 percent of its company-operated stores, resulting in the layoff of about 12,000 workers.
"We don't know what Starbucks they are closing exactly, but Huntington is pretty safe," said Erin White, manager at Starbucks in Pullman Square. "All of our Starbucks are spread out so we can keep steady business at all of them."
There are 16,226 Starbucks open worldwide; 7,257 of these stores are in the U.S. and company-owned.
The cut of 600 stores will be taken from company-owned stores in the U.S., according to the Associated Press.
Jacqueline Sias, a business administration grad student at Marshall, said she thinks Starbucks is making a smart move.
She said it could be risky at the same time.
"Consumers don't like shopping at stores that are doing poorly," Sias said. "Even if Starbucks is hoping to bring business back to the more stable stores, they may have a problem with people being turned off by all the closings."
With the economy in such a slump and food prices increasing the price of a Starbucks cup of coffee can be intimidating.
Especially since McDonald's coffee, featured at less than half the price of a Starbucks mug of joe, won a consumer taste test between the two coffee brands.
"It isn't just that there are too many Starbucks in some places," White said. "With the economy in such a decline, people are making different choices about where to get their coffee. Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's are two companies that have been aiming business toward their cheaper versions of coffee drinks like we offer."
Charlie Searls, a Marshall graduate, has started trying new places to get his morning cup of coffee.
"A cup of coffee costs the same as a gallon of gas," Searls said. "I need both kinds of fuel for my job, and I'm not about to pay the same amount for coffee as I do for gas. I used to run in Starbucks in the morning and grab a coffee, but now it's just easier and makes more sense to hit up McDonald's. It's cheaper, quicker and a lot of times tastes less burnt."
Aaron Long can be contacted at long89@marshall.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!