Lowering the Odds on Lewis Black's Head Exploding

Starbucks announces the thinning of its stores, (and where they are actually going to be located.!) but they also just announced the opening of 160 co-branded stores located in a grocery chain in the Northeast US, replacing existing Dunkin' Donuts shops.

Sorry Lewis, your head may still be in jeopardy!

"...and if you walk to the end of the block, there sits a Starbucks. And directly across the street -- in the exact same building as that Starbucks -- there is... another Starbucks. There is a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks! And ladies and gentlemen, THAT is the end of the universe." - Lewis Black

The Wall Street Journal reports that Starbucks has identified the 600 US stores that it plans to close as it restructures the company. Forty-four states will be affected, with 88 units to be closed in California, 59 in Florida and 57 in Texas.

According to the Journal story, “The list reads like a cross section of the U.S., with closures planned inside shopping malls, near beach resorts, in college towns and off highways. Las Vegas will lose the most stores of any U.S. city, with 13 expected to close. It is followed by San Diego, with 10; Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., each with nine; and Houston, with eight."

Starbucks hometown of Seattle is scheduled to lose seven cafes.

“Most of the nation's major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami, will lose at least one Starbucks. Although there are economically struggling towns on the list, such as Flint, Mich., there are also affluent suburbs, including Walnut Creek, Calif., and Newton, Mass." The closings will thin out some areas that had a high density of Starbucks. San Francisco's Metreon entertainment complex, located at an intersection the company had determined could support three Starbucks, will lose one of those locations.

In towns with fewer Starbucks, city officials have said they will try to persuade the company to reconsider closing their location, and customers have said in Internet postings that they are circulating petitions to save their location.