Americans in denial as Starbucks to shut 600 coffee shops

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Drinkers of frothy lattes, European-style macchiatos and syrupy Frappuccinos across the United States were in denial Wednesday as Starbucks fell victim to the economic downturn and announced it was closing 600 coffee shops.

"For more than a year now, we have seen the adverse impact that a slower economy and dramatic decline in consumer confidence have had on our US business," Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, who last year returned to the helm of the company, said in a statement.

"After an extensive and rigorous review of our US store portfolio, our executive and field leadership team has decided to close approximately 600 underperforming company-operated stores in the US market, which includes our previously announced plans to close 100 stores," Schultz said.

             Exactly which Starbucks will be shuttered has not yet been announced, but in cities such as Washington, San Francisco or New York, losing a Starbucks here or there would hardly be felt, and seems almost an inevitability.

There are three Starbucks within two blocks of each other near the White House, with one more across a small park -- and yet another one around the corner. That's roughly one Starbucks per city block.

And yet, the manager of one of the Washington Starbucks said he did not think any of the shops in the shadow of the White House will be closed.

"I don't think it will impact the DC area that much, and not our store in particular because we're busy and profitable," he said, asking not to be named.

Chris Lombardi, a journalist who lives in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood, was convinced her local Starbucks would not get the chop either, but for a different reason.

             "I'm thinking they won't close my local because there's not another one nearby, as opposed to Greenwich Village where there's one every half block," she said.

             Furthermore, Lombardi's local was always packed. "Never any room at the inn," she said.

             So was musician and television producer Clint Conley's local Starbucks in Concord, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, and the self-confessed Starbucks addict felt sure that would save it.

"The line of cars out the lot of our local Starbucks backs traffic up through a stop light.... That would seem to suggest our local won't be shuttered," said Conley.

             "But perhaps we're all in denial," he added.

             Thomasine Lewis-Tilden of California said the closures would help to restore some of Starbucks' brand integrity.

"It's mystifying that they cheapened the brand by McDonalds-izing -- building way too many stores, some so close to another that they cannibalized sales," she told AFP.

             "I think cutting back and closing down stores is essential to keeping the integrity of the brand."

San Franciscan Debbie Guardian bemoaned the fate of the several thousand workers who would lose their jobs, but was not sorry that Starbucks was hurting.

"It's not their coffee I don't like but what they represent -- wiping out the small-business cafe and (saying) 'let's rule the world'," she said.

"I miss the little neighborhood cafe.... I miss those dark, speakeasy-looking cafes with wooden tables," she said, recalling an era before Starbucks began a prolific expansion that saw it explode from 677 shops in 1995 to nearly 16,000 last year.

Starbucks coffees don't come cheap, and with Americans doling out more and more money to fill up their cars, many have decided to forego their frothy coffees.

             A medium cappuccino at Starbucks costs 3.69 dollars in Washington, or the equivalent of 29.50 dollars per gallon.

             Gasoline seems a bargain at 4.08 per gallon.

Twenty-eight percent of US motorists have stopped going to Starbucks or other coffee houses entirely, and 21 percent are going less often due to skyrocketing gas prices, a survey conducted last month by Kelley's Blue Book showed.

             For Conley, giving up coffee is as much out of the question as is giving up driving.

             "I wish it were as easy as cutting back, but I am deep in the grips of caffeine addiction," Conley told AFP.