Starbucks to Close All Teavana Stores

Starbucks announced last week that it will be closing all of its Teavana stores. Teavanas, which are primarily based in malls, have been under-performing for a while now.  Starbucks attempted to preserve Teavana by a series of creative efforts, but sales wouldn’t improve. In a statement, the company explained that “despite efforts to reverse the trend through creative merchandising and new store designs, the underperformance was likely to continue.”

There are 379 Teavana stores, but by 2018 all of the stores are said to be gone. Over 3,300 workers are going to be effected.  In order to help the Teavana workers, Starbucks has invited them to apply at Starbucks locations. Starbucks is still expanding rapidly, and plans to add close to 240,000 jobs over the next five years internationally. Most of this growth will blossom in Asian countries.

Teavana isn’t the only store based out of malls that struggled to stay alive. In fact, 20-25% of all malls in America are expected to close within five years. Also, in the first six months of the year, there were over 5,300 store closings. Some specific retail stores that have announced closures were Gamestop and JC Penny due to tough competition with e-commerce sites.

Starbucks purchased Teavana for $620 million back in 2012. Now, the Teavana stores will only be present at malls through the end of the year. So, if you’re a Teavana fan, make sure to build your tea collection of Teavana’s Matcha and Herbal teas before they sell out entirely.

Fortunately, there will still be somewhat of a selection of Teavana teas at grocery stores, but it won’t be the same as the reliable tea samples Teavana so generously offers every time we are strolling at the mall.