Massachusetts Will See Over a Dozen Starbucks Locations Close

It took a while, but the Greater New Bedford area finally has a few Starbucks locations. In fact, New Bedford has a Starbucks on Coggeshall Street, something Mayor Jon Mitchell's economic development advisor told me several years ago was not likely to happen.

Starbucks is considered by some to be a pricey, "hoity-toity" version of Dunkin'. I was told the company performs a market study to determine whether a community's residents can afford to shop there. For a while there, I guess it was touch-and-go for New Bedford, but something happened, and here they are.

There are a couple of Starbucks locations in Dartmouth, one in Wareham and one in Fairhaven.

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Recent news about the Seattle-based Starbucks chain has not been good for "Starbuxers," however. The company says "underperforming" stores nationwide will brew their last beans in the coming months. Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol informed employees that 900 jobs could be impacted as a result.

CBS Boston reported, "Starbucks is closing over a dozen stores in Massachusetts," but don't spill the pumpkin latte just yet. It seems the stores in our area are safe for now.

The station reported Starbucks will close four stores in Boston, one in South Boston, and one each in Brighton, Brookline and Hyde Park. Three stores in Cambridge will close, and one each in Marlboro, Medford, Natick, Newton, Somerville and Wellesley.

In a letter to employees, Niccol said, "To put it into context: Since we've already opened numerous coffeehouses over the past year, our overall company-operated count in North America will decline by about 1% in fiscal year 2025 after accounting for both openings and closures."

New Bedford has a connection to Starbucks; the company took its name from one of the characters in Herman Melville's classic Moby-Dick.