Monday, March 30, 2009

That grinding sound is more than coffee beans you hear...


Starbucks that beacon of all coffee consumerism, has run into some troubles due to the current economic climate.

The iconic coffee chain announced their first British Columbia store closing today, as the Starbucks location at Richmond's Aberdeen Mall was given its forty eight hours notice of closure.

Considering the vast number of Starbuck's locations across the Greater Vancouver area, one suspects that this would be but a drop in the percolator, but it's those other shoes that are about to drop that have coffee drinkers a little more nervous than having just too much caffeine in their systems.

Starbucks has a master plan of 100 closures to make in Canada, Richmond but the first with 99 more to come it seems, no details have been released yet as to where the closures will be made or what the criteria for closure will be. With 365 locations in BC (one for each day of the year?), there no doubt will be other closures made in the province where coffee is almost one of the major currencies.

It is of interest to note that the local operation at Safeway recently posted a sign advising that the Rupert location would be working on reduced hours, with no service available from your local barista after 7 pm.

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