3 NYC Teavana Stores To Close By 2018

NEW YORK, NY — Starbucks announced Friday that it's pulling the plug on nearly 400 Teavana retail stores nationwide, which means there will be three fewer places to pick up free samples of tea in New York City.

The Seattle-based coffee giant's three Teavana locations in the city were located on the Upper East Side, Upper West Side and in Elmhurst, Queens, according to the company's website. Starbucks purchase Teavana for $620 million in 2012 in what appears to have been a bad investment.

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.

Here's where you can grab free samples before the stores close for good:

• Teavana Queens Center: 9015 Queens Blvd. between 57th and 59th avenues;
• Teavana Manhattan Project: 1291 Lexington Ave. between East 86th and 87th streets;
• Teavana Broadway: 2261 Broadway on the corner of West 81st Street.

Image via bargainmoose/Creative Commons