Sign Of The Times: Starbucks Closes Downtown New Haven Store

NEW HAVEN, CT — There's another Starbucks a few blocks away. But that's not the point.

As the Seattle-based coffee behemoth shutters another store, this one a huge anchor spot on the Green, to focus more on mobile orders and drive-thrus as a result of the new normal during the coronavirus pandemic, the days of sitting in a Starbucks for hours working, chatting, or studying may be waning. At least for now.

Starbucks has closed its store at 195 Church St. in downtown New Haven.

A sign now since removed announced the closing of the café that's been at the Church Street sot for two years: “As of Sept. 13 this location has been closed," it advised.

As reported by the New Haven Independent, the owner of 195 Church St. said he was taken unawares by the coffee company's quick exit.

“We were notified a week or 10 days ago that they were closing,” Paul Denz told the paper, saying the move was a "shock."

But store closings may not be a shock to some given the June announcement of store closings across the country.

And, perhaps not a shock to shareholders who were told of plummeting sales back in July.In its third quarter fiscal report card, Starbucks said that U.S. stores saw sales decline 41 percent.