West Linn Starbucks closes, leaving two empty storefronts

The Starbucks at 22000 Willamette Drive in West Linn has closed permanently, leaving two empty storefronts in the Central Village retail strip and cutting off a walkable coffee stop for students at nearby West Linn High School.

The closure was part of a nationwide cut of about 250 Starbucks locations announced Sept. 24, according to The Oregonian. Five Oregon stores were included, with three in the Portland area.

Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams said in a company letter that the company closed locations where it could not deliver the experience it wanted or find "a path to acceptable financial performance."

The closures represent about 1% of Starbucks' more than 18,000 North American coffeehouses.

It was the company's second wave of closures under CEO Brian Niccol's turnaround plan, The Oregonian reported. Last year, Starbucks shut down nearly 500 U.S. locations, 15 of them in Oregon.

For West Linn High School students, the Willamette Drive shop was more than a coffee run. It was a study spot, a lunch destination and one of the few places students without driver's licenses could reach on foot during the school day.

Maryam Al Medyadi, a West Linn High School senior who worked at the store since the summer before her junior year, told the school's student newspaper wlhsNOW that the nearby Willamette Drive Starbucks with a drive-through made more consistent profit.

The company decided to close the smaller location and redirect customers there, she said.

Al Medyadi said customers cried on the store's final days. One regular told staff the location had been open for roughly 35 years, she said. "My coworkers were crying; it was a whole thing," Al Medyadi told wlhsNOW.

Caden Connor, a West Linn High School junior, told wlhsNOW the closure forced him to drive to the Starbucks near Safeway instead, costing more gas and sometimes making him late to class. For students without cars, the loss is sharper.

Al Medyadi described the old location as a rite of passage for freshmen who could walk there during lunch without needing a ride.

West Linn still has three Starbucks: one on Salamo Road, one on Willamette Drive with a drive-through and a kiosk inside Safeway, according to wlhsNOW.

The West Linn Tidings reported that the Central Village also recently lost a Crumbl Cookies location. No replacement tenant has been announced for either storefront.