A Downtown Without a Starbucks

A bathroom staple in downtown Eugene that also happens to offer coffee and coffee accessories will close, effective Sept. 1. The Starbucks store located at 39 W. Broadway will shut its doors and all employees will transfer to nearby stores, a Starbucks spokesperson tells Eugene Weekly. The decision to close the store is a part of the company’s standard course of business, she says.

“We continually evaluate our business to ensure a healthy store portfolio,” the spokesperson adds.

The downtown Starbucks location is one of the few downtown locations where the bathroom has been open for the public without purchase and offers free water.

Starbucks lovers who frequent the downtown location can visit the nearest store .5 mile away, the spokesperson says.

The 495 W. 7th Avenue store, however, is quite a distance when on foot and traffic around that area has been congested thanks to Oregon Department of Transportation’s ongoing work on I-105.

The downtown area does offer other alternatives for coffee and tea. Townshend’s Teahouse has high quality tea and kombucha, Kiva Grocery has an espresso bar and outdoor seating, Full City Roasters has a menu filled with coffee and cafe food and Cowfish has an espresso bar.

In 2018, Starbucks closed its 18th Avenue and Pearl Street store. The company announced June 2018 that it would close 150 underperforming locations. However, the Starbucks spokesperson tells EW that the company announced at its Biannual Investor Day in December 2018 that it plans grow its locations by 3 to 4 percent in the U.S., which is about 550 stores a year.

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