Tea store chain Teavana will shut down every store

Starbucks-owned tea chain Teavana will shut down every single store, which will put 3,300 people out of a job. It currently has nearly 380 stores.

Major plans

“The company concluded that despite efforts to reverse the trend through creative merchandising and new store designs, the underperformance was likely to continue”, Starbucks revealed in a statement. Most locations will have shut down by spring 2018. Employees “will have the opportunity to apply for another job in Starbucks”, but it is not clear how many will actually lose their job.

Starbucks only acquired Teavana in 2012, paying 620 million dollars (530 million euro). It had a strategy to expand the store network to 1,000 tea bars, aside from its regular stores, within a decade. It quickly altered that plan, when it had to shut down four of its first five locations.

Starbucks did enter a collaboration with AB InBev to launch premium tea drinks under the Teavana brand. The name may persist, but the regular stores will only have lasted five years following the acquisition.