Starbucks Coffee will be closing 600 stores nationwide, including the store at 732 Montana in Santa Monica.
The manager of the store said he does not know exactly when the store will be closing, and declined to comment further because employees are not supposed to speak with media.
According to a statement from CEO Howard Schultz on the company’s website, Starbucks is closing stores that have not been performing.
“Poor real estate decisions that were made, coupled with a very troubled economy, convinced us that these stores would not reach acceptable levels of profitability,” Schultz said in the statement.
There are eight other Starbucks locations within one mile of the store slated to close, including three others on Montana, which are all less than half a mile away.
Many of the regular customers like this particular location because it is less crowded than the others in the immediate vicinity, and because it has more seating.
Morris Zlotowitz has also been a customer since before Starbucks moved in, and he said that the same group of people still congregate there.
“There’s kind of the same people that are here everyday,” Zlotowitz said. “It’s always been some kind of a place for people to talk.”
He also said that it’s “not the Starbucks as much as having a coffee place on this corner.” He said that the Diedricks Coffee that previously occupied the space was just as popular.
Zlotowitz said that the Starbucks is also a common location for mothers with strollers.
Dr. Roy Kotansky has been a customer at the Starbucks since it opened, and was also a customer of Diedricks. He said that he has enjoyed being able to walk to the coffee shop, and not having to drive.
He said that being able to walk is important, and that with current gas prices, the community benefits from not having to drive to get its coffee. He added that walking saves money on gas and also helps the environment.
“If it serves the community a purpose, sometimes you have to look at that as the bigger thing,” Kotansky said. “When you look at just the money, it’s wrong.”
Kotansky also said that he liked the atmosphere on the corner of Montana and Lincoln, because the store is much less crowded than most other locations, and is not “filled with students.”
“It’s just a great corner shop,” he said. He thinks that what sets it apart from the other area Starbucks is that there is a lot of room to sit and relax, while the other locations are not as accommodating.Kotansky also observed that the employees were “some of the nicest employees I’ve seen at any Starbucks.”
