Word of Starbucks cafe closures is rippling across Southern California, with social media posts and letters in café doorways alerting customers that their coffee stop is soon to be no more.

The Seattle coffee chain announced Thursday that it was closing hundreds of stores nationwide in a $1 billion restructuring plan under its Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol, the former CEO of Chipotle and an Orange County resident brought in a year ago.

“Each year, we open and close coffeehouses for a variety of reasons, from financial performance to lease expirations,” Niccol wrote to employees on Thursday. “This is a more significant action that we understand will impact partners and customers. Our coffeehouses are centers of the community, and closing any location is difficult.”

Notices po

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