Starbucks identifies stores slated for closure
Coffee chain to shutter more than 600 stores in response to slowing sales, sluggish economy.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Starbucks Corp. released a list Thursday of the 616 company-owned stores it will shutter by the first half of 2009.
The closures accompany planned layoffs of 12,000 workers. Starbucks currently operates 7,087 stores in the U.S.
Store closures, will affect about 8.7% of Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) stores, in 44 states, with California losing the most outposts. The chain will close 88 stores in that state.
The Seattle-based coffee company has said the cutbacks reflect a difficult economic environment in which rising gas prices and unemployment, as well as falling home values, have consumers cutting back on nonessential purchases like premium coffee.
Inflation is also driving up Starbucks' costs, as rising prices for dairy products and more expensive storefront space have weighed on earnings.
Starbucks has said the stores it is closing were unprofitable, and many were located near another Starbucks store. Most of them were opened in the last two years.
The company has also scaled back plans for opening new stores in 2009 by more than half. The chain plans to open fewer than 200 stores next year. 
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