The Starbucks in the Castro appears to have closed.
As of Thursday afternoon, the coffee behemoth’s location at 4094 18th St. had a sign posted to the window announcing the closure and thanking customers.
“We know this may be hard to hear — because this isn’t just any store. It’s your coffeehouse,” the sign says.
It’s a notable Starbucks location, but it’s part of a broader company downsizing that will shutter other cafes in the city and across the country. Baristas at a SoMa location on Eighth and Townsend streets said Friday would be the store’s last day.
A Starbucks spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The company website shows five more San Francisco coffee shops, including outposts in Fisherman’s Wharf, the Financial District, and the Fillmore Center that will be closed.
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The message in the Castro location promises that the baristas, or “partners” in company parlance, will be supported during the closure. A QR code directs would-be latte drinkers to other Starbucks locations.
Reached by phone, an unnamed employee at the location confirmed the closure and immediately hung up.
A Sept. 25 message from CEO Brian Niccol explained the strategy to reduce the company’s footprint.
“We identified coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance, and these locations will be closed,” Niccol wrote on the Starbucks blog (opens in new tab).
The company is shrinking to 18,300 U.S. and North American locations this month, down from 18,734, USA Today reported (opens in new tab).
Affectionately known as “Bearbucks” — owing to the prevalence of LGBTQ+ customers — that location was the first Starbucks in the city to unionize, during a nationwide push in 2022. At the time, workers cited difficulties at the cafe during and after the pandemic, including a four-month closure for plumbing issues.
Citing declining sales, the company has shuttered at least six cafes in San Francisco in the past year, most of them downtown.