Sophomore engineering major Ryan Rabideau, a self-described “everyday coffee drinker,” still plans on going to Starbucks to get his caffeine fix each day.
He just won’t be getting it at store11727, “Beltsville I-495,” located at 10240 Baltimore Ave. – one of the more than 600 locations Starbucks Co. plans on closing around the country.
Starbucks announced the closures in early July, citing the stores as “underperforming” locations, a finding based on an annual analysis of each Starbucks store. The closures account for 9 percent of Starbucks stores in the United States and may affect up to 12,000 employees.
“These [closures] would improve the current state of our U.S. business, reignite the emotional attachment with our customers and build the business for the long term,” said Aubrey Davis, a media representative from Starbucks.
Out of the 12 Starbucks locations shutting their doors in Maryland, the store near IKEA will hit university students most directly.
But Rabideau, currently a barista at the Starbucks in the College Park Shopping Center next to the campus, said the closing of the Beltsville I-495 location probably “won’t have a huge impact” on coffee-guzzling students.
“It’s a beautiful store,” he said of the closing Starbucks. “But it was slow from the start. That Starbucks opened up before the apartments over there did.”
Of the nearly 20 full- and part-time positions generally available at Starbucks stores, four university students are currently on staff at the Beltsville location, But Starbucks plans to compensate each employee with a severance package or a position at another nearby Starbucks, Davis said.
“We know the impact that [the closing] has on our partners, customers and communities where we operate,” she added.
Though Rabideau suggested students, faculty and other university Starbucks fans affected by the closing will probably turn to the company’s two remaining locations in College Park, sophomore letters and sciences major Jennifer Sutton said the effect will definitely be felt.
“I drink coffee pretty often, and I’m sure other college students can relate,” Sutton said. “People rely on that Starbucks routinely and, occasionally, to get their favorite coffee beverage before, after and in between classes and work. … I’m not sure what coffee business I will be using in the future while residing in College Park for school.”
While the locations will begin shutting down this summer, Davis could not say when the Beltsville I-495 location will close.
“We can anticipate that the store is closing; however we are not able to confirm the final date,” she said.
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