9 S. Florida stores to close as Starbucks shuts Teavana

Starbucks has decided that Teavana is not its cup of tea.

The giant coffee company is closing all 379 of its Teavana stores nationwide, including nine stores in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. South Florida stores closing are in Boca Raton, Wellington, Sunrise, Coral Gables, Coral Springs, Plantation and Palm Beach Gardens, aswell as two in Miami.

Most locations of Teavana, which sells more than100 varieties of tea, will be shut down by spring 2018. The shutdown is the latest blowfor a brick-and-mortar retail sector that has sufferedwaves of department and boutique store closings in the last year.

Starbucks made its disclosure during its third-quarter earnings announcement Thursday. The company said its sales growthwas lower than analysts expected. Global comparable store sales increased 4 percent and Americas’ sales 5 percent, Starbucks said.

But the Seattle-based company said in a news release that its Teavana stores, primarily located in shopping malls, “have been persistently underperforming.” So Starbucks has decided to close all of the stores, affecting 3,300 jobs, Starbucks said.

Employees will have the opportunity to apply for positions at Starbucks stores, the company said. Starbucks said it is on track to create 240,000 new jobs globally and 68,000 in theU.S. over the next five years.

Teavana, whichwas acquired by Starbucks in 2012 for $620 million, also has locations in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Middle East.

Starbucks said it is focusing efforts onMainland China where it plans to acquire 50 percent of Starbucks Shanghai Coffee Corp. fromUni-President Enterprises Corp. in China. Starbucks owns the other half of the Chinese enterprise. The acquisition is the largest in Starbucks’ history, taking ownership of 1,300 Starbucks stores in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

mpounds@sunsentinel.com