Starbucks is closing two cafes in Ballston this week as part of a $1 billion nationwide restructuring plan to address dropping sales.
Coffeehouses at 4000 Wilson Blvd and in the Ballston Metro station at 901 N. Stuart Street are on the chopping block.
The Wilson Blvd location will close “by the end of this week,” according to a storefront message. A store employee said that the one in the Ballston Metro Station is closing tomorrow (Saturday).
“Our commitment to creating welcoming, memorable experiences remains unchanged,” the letter says. “We hope you’ll visit us at a nearby Starbucks where we’d be honored to continue sharing moments with you.”
The closures come as Starbucks intends to lay off 900 corporate employees and close 1% of its cafes nationwide, CEO Brian Niccol announced yesterday (Thursday). This equates to about 200 locations.
“We identified coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance, and these locations will be closed,” Niccol wrote.
Plans also call for renovations at over 1,000 locations and come on the heels of declining same-store sales for six consecutive quarters. The company laid off 1,100 corporate employees earlier this year.
Starbucks has spent just over two years at 4000 Wilson Blvd, replacing Lebanese Taverna’s former spinoff, LebTav, in June 2023. The Ballston Metro station cafe has been around for much longer: since at least 2007, based on archived Google Maps photos.
Arlington is home to over a dozen Starbucks cafes, including locations along Columbia Pike, inside the Pentagon and elsewhere in Ballston at Marymount University (1000 N. Glebe Road) and the Westin Hotel (801 N. Glebe Road).
ARLnow reporter Dan Egitto contributed to this report.
