Starbucks closings

Yesterday, Shoe Pavilion announced it is closing all 64 of its stores. If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry. It’s a West Coast thing.

Better get in while the shoes are hot. They’re having a fire sale right now…everything must go.

Bad economy, consumers aren’t buying, blah, blah, blah. If these retail stores keep closing, our outdoor malls will be empty pretty soon. How will we be able to identify the truly American locations throughout our country with no strip malls?!!

Take that, Starbucks! Indiana’s got The Conservative Cafe, which proudly displays red, white, and blue bunting and serves “Radical Right” coffee (their strongest blend).

You gotta have a gimmick, and since the trendy, socially conscious thing is tired, owner Dave Beckham, decided to go for the Ronald Reagan, hostile, redneck decor.

It’s a good news, bad news kind of thing. Balancing the scales…you know.

Whole Foods has decided to implement a “conservative approach.” First step? Get rid of the dividends.

But Cisco has some good news.

Ruby Tuesday is taking the phrase “out with the old, in with the new” to a new level. The restaurant chain blew up it’s last old building today, celebrating the completion of their remodeling project.

They showed the demolition at 3pm today on RubyTuesday.com.

Perhaps it’s in poor taste to blow up a building right now (as businesses continue to blow up every day), but Ruby Tuesday’s doesn’t seem to care. Hey, it’s a pretty good publicity stunt. They’re getting press, and they didn’t have to go bankrupt to do it.

Well…I guess we all expected something like this to happen. Restaurants don’t just close their doors abruptly for no reason.

Both the Bennigan’s and Steak and Ale restaurant chains have filed for bankruptcy. Not all stores using the name joined the filing, but plenty did. And employees and customers alike were greeted in many locations today with a sign that said “WE ARE CLOSED. THANK YOU.”

At least Starbucks gave us a little notice. A bunch of Bennigan’s restaurants were suddenly closed for business today, but no one really knows what’s going on. Many of the suburban kitsch-fest stores look like they are closing their doors.

It’s here. The list identifying the 600 Starbucks that will be closing their doors. No one thought that the list would be released, especially after Chief Executive Howard Schultz said last week that they’d be releasing a list each month after the stores were notified. But, apparently, they changed their minds. For the good of “general information.” Wonder why they really did it.

About 12,000 Starbucks workers will be “adjusting” their jobs with Starbucks this summer.

The company, which we’ve covered both here and here, is finally taking a dip after a latte of success (sorry, we just had to).