Sorry, tea lovers. Starbucks just announced its plans to shut down all 379 of its Teavana retail stores.
The chain announced that it plans to close all 379 stores within the next year during Starbucks' Q3 conference call. Most locations will reportedly shut their doors by Spring 2018. The news affects approximately 3,300 partners (the brand's word for employees), and the coffee giant says that each of them will "will receive opportunities to apply for positions at Starbucks stores."
Apparently, the sad news is due to the "principally mall-based Teavana retail stores" "persistently underperforming," explains Starbucks' report . And "despite efforts to reverse the trend through creative merchandising and new store designs, the underperformance was likely to continue." Basically, no one goes to the mall anymore to grab a tea — or really anything anymore.
Teavana partners may have been expecting the news, considering that in April, Starbucks mentioned the tea brand was struggling, Business Insider reports. "Over the last several years many mall-based retailers have been adversely impacted by reduced foot traffic, resulting from the accelerating shift of consumer behavior away from brick-and-mortar retail and changes in consumer retail activity overall," Scott Harlan Maw, Starbucks CFO, announced at the time, per BI.
But don't worry about not being able to get your Teavana fix — a Starbucks spokesperson confirmed to Teen Vogue via email that Teavana tea will continue to be available at Starbucks stores. And there's no need to worry about Starbucks going anywhere anytime soon. During the conference call, the coffee chain also reported an increase in sales, an intent to hire thousands of new employees, and plenty of other good news for coffee drinkers.
Plus, the Teavana team doesn't seem too discouraged by the news — according to Twitter, they're making lemonade out of lemons.
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