article

A Starbucks coffee shop in New York, US, on Monday, July 28, 2025. Starbucks Corp. is scheduled to release earnings figures on July 29. Photographer Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images

NEW YORK – Over 50 Starbucks locations in New York City closed without warning, leaving both employees and landlords confused, The New York Post reports.

Dozens of NYC Starbucks shuttered

What we know:

Starbucks announced that over 400 stores would be closed on Sept. 25.

Included in those hundreds of stores are 54 Starbucks in New York City, according to the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP).

Not only have the coffee shops been closed, but they were closed with little to no notice to landlords.

“They literally put signs in windows overnight without telling landlords and building managers,” Newmark Retail Vice Chairman Jeffrey Roseman told The Post. “There was no warning, no heads up.”

The company also failed to offer replacement jobs to city workers affected by the closures; the city’s Fair Workweek Law dictates that employees from closing stores must be offered a job at a location in the same borough.

Those employees are also entitled to first choice of any job openings in the vicinity of their original job.

A customer holds a drink inside a Starbucks coffee shop in New York, US, on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. Starbucks Corp. is removing some less popular drinks from its US lineup, part of a broader plan to simplify the menu and serve customers faster. Photog

A letter was sent from the city to Starbucks regarding said labor laws. DCWP Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga wrote in the letter, “Starbucks appears poised to violate its legal obligations to employees in New York City locations.”

Starbucks has until tomorrow, Oct. 3, to explain how it will comply with the city’s labor laws.

Dig deeper:

The DCWP filed a lawsuit against Starbucks for “wrongfully terminating an employee” earlier this year.

According to the lawsuit, an investigation conducted by the department found that Starbucks illegally fired longtime barista Karmen Rich on December 27, 2023, without just cause.

Mobile order and Uber Eats and Doordash delivery pick up area at Starbucks coffee shop, Queens, New York. (Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

This is the third wrongful termination lawsuit that the department has filed against Starbucks.

The Source: This article includes information from New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and reporting from The New York Post.

StarbucksFood and DrinkNew York City