Goodbye, Teavana: Starbucks To Close 379 Tea Stores

Say goodbye to the free tea samples at the mall. Starbucks will close nearly all Teavana retail stores by next year. The closures will eliminate 379 stores, with more than 3,000 jobs. Starbucks says it will offer Teavana employees jobs at Starbucks locations.

There are four Teavana locations in the mid- and lower-Hudson Valley, and five from Albany northward, that will be closed.

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.

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.

SEE ALSO:

• Store Closings Affect Hudson Valley On Many Levels
• 3 Hudson Valley JCPenny Stores Could Be On Chopping Block
• Another Retailer Closing Stores In New York
• Staples Closing 70 Stores Amid Declining Sales
• 19 New York Retailers On Verge Of Bankruptcy

These Teavana mall locations will be affected:

• Ridge Hill, Yonkers
• Palisades Mall, West Nyack
• Shops At Nanuet, Nanuet
• Poughkeepsie Galleria, Poughkeepsie
• Crossgates Mall, Albany
• Eastview Mall, Victor
• Walden Galleria, Buffalo
• Boulevard Mall, Amherst
• Carousel Mall, Syracuse

Written by Neal McNamara (Patch Staff), with additional reporting by Michael Woyton/Patch Staff.

Image via bargainmoose/Creative Commons.