Will We See More Starbucks Closings?

The buzz about Starbucks from last week's Quick Poll maybe hard to swallow for fans of the ubiquitous coffee chain, withmore than eight in 10 (84%) respondents choosing "yes" as an answerto the question, versus a mere 16% who seem to believe the slew ofrecently announced closings will suffice. Jim Hughes, atransactional attorney with Greenberg Glusker who specializes inreal estate, believes that whether there are more closings, themove to reduce the number of stores is a smart one forStarbucks.

I think that this is frankly an excellent business move forStarbucks. Starbucks is a premium brand that has become a littleover extended. They've made coffee upscale, and in that, they'vedone something that the brands like Duncan Donuts and othersweren't able to do, and they've stuck a chord with consumers. Butyou literally have a Starbucks in a grocery store a couple doorsdown from a standalone store. I was concerned just by theproliferation of stores in the last year or so, that they werediluting the brand and overextending themselves.