After a day of rumours and speculation, Starbucks announced yesterday afternoon it will close 61 of its 84 Australian cafes.

The company said the 61 locations to be closed had been underperforming.

After the closures, which will happen within days, 23 stores will remain open in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.

In a statement, Starbucks said the decision to close most of its stores “would allow the company to concentrate its attention and resources on profitable growth, operational efficiencies and an enhanced experience for customers and partners [employees] globally”.

Starbucks international CEO Howard Schultz said there are no plans to close other stores internationally.

“We are well into the implementation phase of transforming Starbucks and we believe that this difficult, yet necessary, decision to close stores in Australia will help support the continued growth of our international business,” he said in a statement.

"While this decision represents business challenges unique to the Australian market, it in no way reflects the strong state of Starbucks business in countries outside of the United States.”
 
The locations of the remaining stores will be posted on the company’s website on Thursday 31 July, the company said.