Starbucks hopes promotions can give a jolt to lagging sales
By Jessica Mintz
Associated Press
SEATTLE »
Starbucks Corp. is testing several types of promotions in stores across the country, a move it hopes will help counter the decline in domestic store traffic that led to a decision to close 600 stores.
Starbucks would not say how many stores are planning promotions, only that the majority of its more than 11,000 U.S. stores will offer some sort of deal between now and early September.
There are no ongoing promotions in Hawaii, and none of the coffee cards were distributed here, spokeswoman Jill Wheatman said in an interview yesterday. Hawaii has 71 company-owned Starbucks stores, and 14 licensed stores.
In its fiscal second quarter, which ended March 30, Starbucks' profit sank 28 percent as U.S. consumers made fewer trips to its stores, especially in areas hit hardest by the housing market's collapse, like Florida and California.
On July 1, the company announced it would close 600 company-operated stores in the next year, up from its earlier forecast for 100 closings, citing ongoing economic troubles in the U.S. The company also indicated that store density was part of the problem, and said the vast majority of unprofitable stores to be shuttered had been opened close to another existing location.
Star-Bulletin reporter Nina Wu contributed to this report.