About a week or so ago I posted something about Starbucks closing 600 stores but the folks at the Rio Grande said they thought they were safe. I contacted the corporate headquarters to see what they could tell me, and here is the (corporate) response:

"Thank you for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company. We appreciate your writing to us with your concerns about the possible closure of one of our locations. 

While it was announced in July 2008 that we will close 600 stores in the U.S. by the first half of fiscal 2009, a list of store closures will not be published. This decision was made out of respect and dignity for our partners, and our desire to share this information with impacted partners first. Therefore, we are not able to respond to rumors or speculation about which locations may be closing. 

The executive and field leadership teams used several criteria to identify stores for closure that included locations that were not profitable at the store level and not believed to provide acceptable returns in the foreseeable future.

Individual stores will be notified by their district manager and/or regional director approximately 30 days prior to the anticipated closure date. Concurrently, the approximately 6,600 remaining U.S. company-operated stores will be notified that they are not affected by this announcement and will remain open.

We expect to place many of the affected partners into available positions at nearby Starbucks stores. Those partners who are not offered a comparable position within a reasonable distance of their current location will be offered a severance payment to aid in their transition. All affected partners - including full-time and part-time - are eligible for severance based on job title and current pay rate.

Thank you again for contacting us. We appreciate your comments and thank you for being a customer. If you have any further comments please email us email us via www.starbucks.com/customer/contact.asp or call (800) 23-LATTE (52883) to speak with a customer relations representative."

Warm Regards,

Daniel M. 

Customer Relations

Starbucks Coffee Company