Minneapolis-based Caribou Coffee announced Monday that it will close 80 “underperforming stores” effective this Sunday, but did not identify the stores. Employees at the two West Chester-area Caribou shops at 4747 Tylersville Road and 7755 Cox Lane said Monday that their stores were among the five Cincinnati-area stores that are scheduled to close at noon Sunday.
Company officials said in a news release that the Caribou Coffee shops that remain open in Ohio and in seven other states “will be converted to Peet’s Coffee & Tea locations over the next 12 to 18 months.”
A German company, Joh. A. Benckiser Group, bought Caribou in December 2012 for $340 million, taking the once publicly traded company private. Earlier in 2012, the German conglomerate bought California-based Peet’s Coffee & Tea for $972 million.
Benckiser’s chairman, Bart Becht, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune in December that Caribou “has a fantastic brand and unique culture and fits perfectly with (the company’s) investment philosophy of investing in premium and unique brands in attractive growth categories like coffee.”
But in announcing the 80 store closings Monday, company officials said, “Over the past few months, we at Caribou have revisited our business strategy, including closely evaluating our performance by market to make decisions that best position us for long-term growth. … While the decisions we’ve made have been difficult for our team in Minneapolis, as well as our team members across the country and our guests and fans everywhere, we are working to make this transition as seamless as possible for the Caribou community.”
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