Dedham Teavana Set To Close

Tea lovers, the time to stock up is now: Starbucks has announced it will close nearly 400 Teavana locations within the next year. The closures will eliminate more than 3,000 jobs, but Starbucks says it will offer employees at the mall-based Teavana stores positions at Starbucks locations. Seattle-based Starbucks has owned the chain, which was founded in Atlanta in 2012.

In Dedham, Teavana has a location at Legacy Place. Other Massachusetts locations include Natick, Marlborough, North Attleboro, Braintree, Back Bay, Burlington, Cambridge, and Peabody.

Starbucks called the Teavana stores "persistently underperforming" in a statement issued to investors on Thursday:

As reported on the Q2 call, many of the company’s principally mall-based Teavana retail stores have been persistently underperforming. Following a strategic review of the Teavana store business, the company concluded that despite efforts to reverse the trend through creative merchandising and new store designs, the underperformance was likely to continue. As a result, Starbucks will close all 379 Teavana stores over the coming year, with the majority closing by Spring 2018. The approximately 3,300 partners impacted by these closures will receive opportunities to apply for positions at Starbucks stores, as Starbucks remains on track to create 240,000 new jobs globally and 68,000 in the U.S. over the next five years.
Financial Targets

Starbucks bought the Teavana brand in 2012 for $620 million. The brand was founded in Atlanta in 1997 as a sort-of tea version of Starbucks.

Reporting from Neal McNamara and Shannon Antinori was used in this article.

Image via bargainmoose/Creative Commons