(post by BT) Have you heard the one about the most desirable retail tenant in the US closing 600 locations? Not that funny? Well, with the prices of gas and food through the roof, those $5 venti, lite, half-caff, soy, double shot, vanilla lattes were bound to take a hit. What does that mean to commercial brokers? 600 new, PRIME retail locations to lease! Those landlords thought they had a sure thing with Starbucks as a tenant. Some held out years to land the coffee giant as a tenant, and for what? Believe it or not, Starbucks is a cheap tenant, always looking (and often able to negotiate) below-market rents. Why? Starbucks brings foot traffic and appeal to any area, be it a strip mall or a mixed-use building.

Besides the economy, some locations didn’t make any sense. In some neighborhoods, there were way too many locations so even after the closures; Don’t panic, New Yorkers - there is still plenty to caffeinate Manhattan. Want proof? Check out the Starbucks Store Locator – the little map below shows what comes up in 11107. Then just “walk” the map in any direction to reveal the insane number of locations! Now some of the closings don’t seem to make sense, either. Take the one at Atlas Park in Queens. It was packed every time I went by!

Here is the Starbucks Closure List. Go there to find out if your favorite one is going out of business. We checked and found out that both locations near us are going under.

Does this mean that the price for a tall coffee is going to go up or down? It can’t possibly cost as much as they charge.

List of Starbucks stores closing in NYC:

BAY RIDGE, 8414 THIRD AVE, BROOKLYN NY
DOUGLASTON PLAZA, 242-02 61ST AVE, DOUGLASTON NY
UNION TURNPIKE, 8989 UNION TURNPIKE, GLENDALE NY
ATLAS PARK, 8000 COOPER AVE, GLENDALE NY
1675 BROADWAY, 1675 BROADWAY, MANHATTAN NY
400 MADISON AVENUE, 400 MADISON AVE, NEW YORK NY
1600 BROADWAY, 1600 BROADWAY, NEW YORK NY
46TH & FIFTH AVE, 565 FIFTH AVE, NEW YORK NY
MADISON & 44th, 340 MADISON AVE, NEW YORK NY
MACY’S 5TH FLOOR - HERALD SQUARE, 151 W 34TH ST, NEW YORK NY
FOREST PROMENADE, 1756 FOREST AVE, STATEN ISLAND NY