Social media posts this week alerted us to two Starbucks closures in south Orange County.
The popular cafe in Plaza del las Flores at Oso and Antonio Parkways in Rancho Santa Margarita is among the 250 Starbucks closures announced Thursday by the Seattle coffee giant.
Commenters in a Facebook post that same day lamented the closure at 30465 Avenida de las Flores, noting the Starbucks had operated there for more than 25 years. Others noted that another (newer) Starbucks with a drive-through also operates in the same shopping center.
On Friday, customers wrote on Facebook that employees at the Starbucks at Aliso Viejo Plaza (where La Paz Road meets Pacific Park Drive) also were given two-days notice of that cafe’s closure. (Address: 27072 La Paz Road)
Calls to both cafes went unanswered on Friday.
Starbucks said it was closing underperforming stores or those that didn’t match the cozy aesthetic the company is trying to recapture after pivoting to smaller, mobile-ordering stores during the pandemic.
A year ago, Starbucks closed at least 69 cafes in Southern California.
Those closures were the beginning of a $1 billion restructuring plan under the company’s new Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol, the former CEO of Chipotle and an Orange County resident.
If you know of a recent or imminent Starbucks closure in your Orange County city, email the address, closing date and any photos of the cafe to sgowen@scng.com.