A COFFEE shop giant has been forced to close one of its popular high street branches.
Starbucks in Ilford town centre thanked its customers for their loyalty after rolling down the shutters for good.
The Starbucks in Ilford town centre has closed for good[/caption]
In September, the world-famous coffee chain decided to close “some” of its 520 UK branches as part of a review of its global coffee shops.
It did not disclose how many stores were to be affected or the locations.
The hospitality business runs around 520 company-owned stores in the UK, as well as franchise-owned coffee shops.
It is understood that more than 5,600 people work for Starbucks across the UK.
On the Ilford, East London, closure, a Starbucks spokesperson said: “We regularly review our portfolio to ensure our stores are relevant for our customers.
“Our 225–227 High Road store in Ilford is now closed.
“We thank our customers for their loyalty over the years.”
However, when one door closes, another opens, and in Starbucks’ case that couldn’t be truer.
The announcement came one week after another Starbucks on the same road reopened after undergoing refurbishment.
The spokesperson added: “Our store at 88 High Road was closed recently for a few days for a refurbishment and has now reopened.
“We look forward to welcoming the local community back to enjoy a new and improved store experience.”
The chain said it is planning to close sites where it has not been able to “create the physical environment customers” want, and where they are not sustainably profitable.
The coffee chain has said it is still on track to open 80 new Starbucks sites in the UK and is committed to the country.
It came as the group revealed it will reduce its portfolio of stores in North America by 1% this year and will cut around 900 North American head office jobs.
The company had 18,734 North American locations at the end of June, and the company said it will end September with 18,300 stores.
The company plans to spend $1billion (£746million) on the cuts, which it aims to complete by the end of this month.
Today’s announcement is the second time Starbucks has cut corporate jobs since 2018, when it laid off around 350 employees.
Earlier this year, the company cut 1,100 corporate positions in February.
Starbucks is restructuring the business to focus more on investing in its stores and customers.
In a statement, Starbucks said: “As outlined in a letter shared by Brian Niccol (chief executive), we have conducted a review of our coffeehouse portfolio in North America and certain stores have been identified for closure where it has not been possible to create the physical environment customers and partners (employees) want, and where there isn’t a path to financial performance.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
