Starbucks is closing an East Sacramento coffee shop. Its last day is around the corner
Starbucks is closing its Alhambra Boulevard coffee shop in East Sacramento weeks after cutting back hours at the location.
Its last day will be Sunday, April 21, according to a farewell sign posted on the door at 1401 Alhambra Blvd. Workers at the location have invited family and friends to “celebrate the community and baristas on our final day open.” Those employees will be relocated to various Starbucks stores around the capital region.
“We will miss seeing you here but we won’t be far!” the sign stated.
Starbucks spokesperson Sam Jefferies called the closure “temporary” but said “the company has no reopening date to share at this time.”
He did not clarify Starbucks’ plans and would not elaborate on the reason for closure beyond the following statement: “As a standard course of business, we regularly evaluate our store portfolio to determine how we can best meet our community and customers’ needs, and ensure partners are supported in crafting beverages in a warm and welcoming environment.”
The shop is down the street from a complex of doctor’s offices, including UC Davis Health’s Midtown Ambulatory Care Center on Folsom Boulevard. It sits across from a Motel 6 and a vacant building that used to be home to a nightclub. It is catty-corner from Roy Inn & Suites. A Peet’s Coffee closed a nearby store last August due to an expiring lease, The Sacramento Business Journal reported.
In 2022, Starbucks closed a Land Park location, citing safety concerns at the intersection that neighbored “a homeless encampment and what neighbors say is an open-air drug market,” The Sacramento Bee reported at the time.
That July, the company had announced the closure of other stores across the U.S. for the same reason.
At the Alhambra Boulevard location, more than 300 calls for service have been made to the Sacramento Police Department since 2020, said Officer Cody Tapley, an agency spokesman. He said those calls may have come from the general area and could have been for a wide range of reasons, from theft and disturbances to loitering or panhandling.
Managers at the store directed questions from The Sacramento Bee to the chain’s corporate media team. The shop recently shortened its hours to close at 2 p.m. Other nearby locations close at 7.
The chain was accused in 2023 of closing stores in a union-busting move. And, this month, Business Insider reported that Starbucks raised prices in California due to the state’s fast-food minimum wage hike, where certain national chains were required to pay workers at least $20 an hour.
The Alhambra Boulevard store is not unionized. Jefferies confirmed that all employees were given the option to transfer to other locations.
The closest Starbucks location will remain in operation at 28th and N streets, Starbucks representatives said. Jefferies encouraged customers to use the Starbucks cellphone app to stay updated on store hours and locations.
Other coffee shops in the area include Coffee Works at 3418 Folsom Blvd. and Cluster Coffee, which operates limited hours out of SacYard at 1725 33rd St.
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