Starbucks burned by social-justice appeasement as growth stalls, stock plunges

[Right_in_Virginia]

Starbucks burned by social-justice appeasement as growth stalls, stock plunges
Washington Times, Jun 20, 2018, Valerie Richardson

Starbucks may have appeased progressives with its social-justice workshops and open-bathroom policy, but such moves have failed to caffeinate the company’s bottom line.

The coffee giant’s stock took a tumble Wednesday after CEO Kevin Johnsonannounced that Starbucks would close 150 company-owned stores next year instead of the expected 50, with an emphasis on underperforming shops in densely populated urban areas, and lowered growth projections.

Mr. Johnsonacknowledged that the decision to shut down 8,000 U.S. stores on May 29 for anti-bias training, driven by the high-profile arrests of two black men in Philadelphia, played a role in the company’s sluggish second-quarter performance.

“In this current quarter, certainly we had an unplanned initiative driven out of the Philadelphia incident, we closed all our stores for training, we had to delay some marketing, but none of that is an excuse,” Mr. Johnson told CNBC. “The fact is the way I think about a growth company at scale is we’ve got to deliver consistent growth, month after month, quarter after quarter, and year after year. And we have not done that.”


More: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/20/starbucks-burned-social-justice-appeasement-growth/

[Applewood]

Every time a business decides to cater to a certain group to the near exclusion of everyone else, it falters.

But I also believe that in some places, there is an unnecessary glut of Starbucks locations.  I remember once being in downtown Denver where there seemed to be a Starbucks on every corner.  The closest major city to me has a glut of Starbucks stores too.  Not just free-standing stores either -- a few hotels, hospitals, shopping malls  and office buildings have a Starbucks.   I can't imagine so many Starbucks so close together each make a profit.  They really aren't that necessary.

[Fishrrman]

From the article:
"Starbucks would close 150 company-owned stores next year instead of the expected 50, with an emphasis on underperforming shops in densely populated urban areas, and lowered growth projections."

Hmmmm.....
Wouldn't these be just the shops in which "the homeless" would be most likely to congregate....?

[WingNot]

All though not circling the drain like Subway they certainly have the same Over exposure problem.  You can take a leak in most major cities without shaking the dew of the lily into a discarded grande cup

[dfwgator]

HA HA!