Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol issued a statement on Thursday announcing that there would be mass layoffs and roughly 400 store closures, effective immediately.
The decision follows more than a thousand layoffs from earlier this year to ultimately fulfill the company’s new “Back to Starbucks” coffeehouse initiative. The new business initiative aims to make the store environment more warm and welcoming, create connection between baristas and customers, and speed order deliveries, according to a post on the Starbucks website.
In a company-wide statement, Niccol wrote that “these steps are necessary to build a better, stronger and more resilient Starbucks that deepens its impact on the world and creates more opportunities for our partners, suppliers and the communities we serve.”
The USC Village features two Starbucks locations — one is a standalone store and another rests inside a Target. Some customers said potential store closures would have a negative impact.
“It’s gonna be hard to get any coffee, like there’s other [Starbucks] locations, but their lines are already pretty long,” Angie Iglesias, a weekly customer at the USC Target Starbucks, said. “If they do close [the Target] location, I could just imagine how long I’ll have to wait in line to get a coffee somewhere else.”
Having two locations is also convenient for USC Students, said Moling Liu, a senior business administration major who described herself as a “sometimes daily” customer at the USC Village Starbucks.
“It’s on my way to classes,” Liu said. “I think the [USC Village location] is pretty popular most of the time.”
Nathan Silva, a senior journalism major and shift supervisor at the USC Village Starbucks, said he has noticed these initiative changes first-hand, having worked at the location since he was a freshman.
Silva said there had been no talks about layoffs or closures at the store, which he felt could be because the USC Village Starbucks is a high-volume café.
“I just know that there is a lot of stress and emphasis on just ensuring that we’re following policy and making sure that everything’s being done correctly, especially when everybody’s eyes are on Starbucks at the moment with the news,” Silva said. “All in all, it’s just making the job of the barista and the shift supervisor a lot more complicated than it needs to be.”
Logistically, discussions of layoffs and closures typically fall to store and district managers, not everyday employees, Silva added.
Starbucks Media Relations representative Sam Jefferies said in an emailed statement that Starbucks does not have specific information on Los Angeles locations closing, but they would have signage up and an email to notify customers of any impending closures.
In a Sept. 25 statement released on the Starbucks Workers United website, the union said the new policies were made with “zero barista input.” The union wrote it will also continue to call for Starbucks to finalize a fair contract with the 12,000 baristas organized under SWU.
“Workers United is sending a formal request for information to Starbucks about the planned closures,” SWU wrote in the statement. “We expect to engage in effects bargaining for every impacted union store, as we have done elsewhere, so workers can be placed in another Starbucks store according to their preferences.”
Discontent with strict new employee policies continues to drive high tensions, even without the fear of layoffs or chatter about union protections, Silva said.
“I think Starbucks as a whole is doing their best to show that they do care about their partners, and while some might disagree and some might agree, I think it’s up to the worker,” Silva said. “I think at the moment, there’s no talks about unionization happening at the USC Village, but you never know.”
A slew of new policies implemented this year, including the all-black dress code and the requirement to write a unique message on every cup, are intended to create a welcoming atmosphere, but also serve as a driver of employee stress, Silva added.
“For our location, nobody’s necessarily scared, but because there’s such an emphasis to do well, I think that’s ultimately what stresses out the baristas working,” he said. “If you don’t write on the cup once, you get written up and it just feels very intense for no reason.”
Silva said he often compares the role of a Starbucks worker to that of “zoo animals.”
“There’s glass up, a separation between the customer and the person behind the counter and it just feels a little ingenuine,” he said. “If you want to really connect with your customers, you’re going to [have to] take away anything that is a barrier.”