Turning Point USA

Starbucks, the coffee chain that originated in the crime-ridden city of Seattle, plans to close seven store locations in San Francisco as the company “re-evaluates [its] footprint.”

The San Francisco Business Times was the first outlet to report the impending store closures, citing a letter sent to district managers in San Francisco on October 2 by Starbucks’ regional vice president for Northern California, Jessica Borton.

In her letter, Borton said that closing the stores was a “very difficult decision” and noted that it was “a standard process of evaluating our store portfolio annually.” Employees will have the ability to transfer to other store locations.

“Each year as a standard course of business, we evaluate the store portfolio to determine where we can best meet our community and customers’ needs,” a Starbucks spokesperson told Today. “This includes opening new locations, identifying stores in need of investment or renovation, exploring locations where an alternative format is needed and, in some instances, re-evaluating our footprint.”

Starbucks’ exit from the Golden City is part of what the Post Millennial called the “seemingly never-ending exodus of businesses,” as the coffee chain follows stores such as Nordstrom, AT&T, Target, Cinemark, Old Navy, Whole Foods, and T-Mobile have fled the city. Most store owners have cited rampant crime as the reason they have had to shutter their doors.

The Post Millennial also reported that Starbucks “recently opened a new store on Powell St., converted a store on Market St. into a pick-up-only location and opened a delivery-only location on Charter Oak Ave.”

Nearly half of all stores in Union Square have closed down since 2019, according to The San Francisco Standard. An annual report from 2022 revealed that California’s violent crime rate rose by 6.1% from 2021, while property crime rose an additional 6.2% and robberies went up by 10.2%.