Starbucks Is Closing All Of Its 379 Teavana Stores Due To Performance Issues

Photo: Shella Thomson on Flickr.

Just five years after acquiring the tea retailer for $620 million, Starbucks has decide to shutter all of Teavana’s stores due to performance issues.

In a press release sent out by Starbucks’ corporate branch, the company announced the closure of the 367 storefronts, which are primarily in malls, due to what’s been described as a persistent lack of performance. All of the stores will be closed by Spring 2018, and the 3,300 employees whose jobs are affected by the shutterings will be receive the chance to apply for positions at Starbucks stores.

Teavana was a retail brand and storefront primarily found in shopping malls, which have been suffering from dramatically decreased foot traffic over recent years and have caused other mallplace mainstays like JC Penny and GameStop to shut down many stores, according to CNN Money. Leading global financial services company Credit Suisse has also suggested in a recent report that as many as a quarter of America’s shopping malls will close within the next five years, meaning that brands like Teavana, which used to thrive in malls, would suffer massive blows.

Based on that, it’s smart for Starbucks to be pulling the plug on Teavana’s brick-and-mortar locations as they look to continue growth across the world. The coffee giant aims to create 68,000 more jobs over the next five years in the United States, so hopefully those Teavana staffers won’t have too hard of a time finding a new job.