Starbucks closing 61 stores in Australia

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Starbucks to close 600 stores

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(CNN) -- Starbucks is closing more than two-thirds of its stores in Australia, days after announcing that hundreds of its American coffee outlets are also being shuttered.

The Seattle-based global coffee franchise said Tuesday that it will close 61 of its 84 locations in Australia by the weekend.

The closures will mean that only 23 cafes will remain open in and around three major cities: Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the company announced it would close 600 company-owned stores in the United States.

Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500), named after the first mate in Herman Melville's 'Moby Dick,' was founded in 1971. It has more than 8,000 company-operated stores and another 6,800 licensed cafes in 44 countries.

Starbucks has seen rising competition from privately-held Dunkin' Donuts and McDonalds recently, and welcomed founder Schultz back as CEO in January after a lackluster performance by the company in the latter half of 2007.