At least five Starbucks locations in Montgomery County announced upcoming closures as part of a $1 billion restructuring plan announced Sept. 25 by the corporation.
The local Starbucks closures include the Aspen Hill location in the Aspen Hill Shopping Center, the Rockville/Derwood location on Gramercy Boulevard off of Crabbs Branch Way, the Gaithersburg location on Muddy Branch Road, the Bethesda location at Bethesda Metro Center and the Takoma Park location in the Hampshire Langley Shopping Center.
The Starbucks at Pike & Rose in North Bethesda also sent an email on Sept. 27 stating that it would close by the end of the day, but staff members at that Starbucks later said the email wasn’t accurate and was distributed by mistake, according to The MoCo Show.
The five Montgomery County locations are among the hundreds of U.S. closures as Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol recently rolled out the “Back to Starbucks” campaign, which involves shuttering some American and Canadian coffeehouse locations and laying off employees.
Niccol said earlier this year that the Starbucks team had reviewed its portfolio of North American locations, according to a Sept. 25 statement.
“During the review, we identified coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance, and these locations will be closed,” Niccol wrote in the statement.
He added that over the next 12 months, the company plans to “uplift more than 1,000 [Starbucks] locations to introduce greater texture, warmth, and layered design.”
“We want to build back a better Starbucks,” Niccol told CNBC earlier this summer.
