Longtime Tacoma Starbucks site to close in April
Tacoma soon will say goodbye to a familiar storefront that’s called Old Town home for more than 20 years.
The Starbucks at 2112 N. 30th St., Suite C, will close April 2.
In a statement sent to The News Tribune from Starbucks’ media relations in response to questions, the coffee retailer said: “As part of Starbucks standard course of business, we continually evaluate our business to ensure a healthy store portfolio.
“After careful consideration, we’ve determined it is best to close the store.”
The company added: “As difficult as this is, we must make the right business decisions for the sake of Starbucks long-term growth.”
The location is near Gateway Park and The Spar. It first opened in the late 1990s.
Its arrival decades ago was on the radar of coffee shops in the area, who at that time were striving to keep their own customers from straying to the larger chains making inroads in Tacoma, such as Starbucks and Tully’s.
At the same time, it was heralded as a good anchor for Old Town, which was working to attract retail.
“Starbucks coming into an area validates that area,” Christy Stolz of nearby Cicero’s Coffee House told The News Tribune in May 1998.
Starbucks outlasted Cicero’s in the neighborhood.
Through the years, the Starbucks site became an established Old Town storefront. It often received praise from customers online, with one reviewer calling it a “destination store” in 2015.
Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the coffee giant. The store itself dealt with a temporary shutdown during the state’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order.
In October, Starbucks said it would be closing 100 stores nationwide in under-performing urban areas and no-longer bustling business districts for 2021, adding to its total of hundreds more expected to shut down over 18 months in the U.S. and Canada.
The company’s plan now is to shift business to other locations with “disciplined expansion,” offering new store formats such as takeout-only Starbucks Pickup sites and growth in suburban locales to develop drive-thrus.
No new openings were announced for this area in Tuesday’s statement.
“We are proud to have been part of the Tacoma community and look forward to serving our customers at our nearby locations,” the company said Tuesday.
News Tribune archives contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
