Starbucks has recently closed over 37 locations in Canada, two of which were in London. The two closed Starbucks restaurants were located downtown at Richmond St, and the other being on the east side of London at Hamilton Rd. Sharmishta Nag, a professor in the Lawrence Kinlan School of Business, says that Starbucks may be facing issues due to what made it famous in the first place, it’s customization.
“The workers at Starbucks, they get their pay is higher than the average pay (of baristas),” she said. “The drinks are so customized. So with that customized drink, they are spending more time making a drink. So therefore, they are expected to pay higher wages.”
“It increases more people waiting in line. So that that reduces the store’s operational efficiency,” Kinlan added. “I will order from somewhere else, which will be where I get it faster.“
Despite the closure of these Starbucks locations in London, Devika Kumar, the supervisor at the Starbucks location at Fanshawe College, says that she is not concerned about Starbucks potentially closing her location.
“We are licensee stores, and those are corporate stores,” said Kumar. “I’ve seen most of the corporate stores being shut down, but the licensee stores have been there for a while.”
