STARBUCKS will axe 467 of its restaurants in a matter of days as part of the sweeping changes being made by its CEO Brian Niccol.
The chief introduced his “Back to Starbucks” plan in a bid to revive the coffeehouse chain, which includes scrapping the locations that don’t align with that vision.
The Starbucks locations that are closing this week account for roughly 1% of its total count across North America.
Starbucks is closing the restataurants over several states, with high concentrations along both the east and west coast.
Niccol said in a company statement that this raft of closures was a “more significant action” than typical ones.
He said: “During the review, we identified coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance, and these locations will be closed.
The outlet Investopedia compiled a full list of the 467 locations, which you can see by clicking the link.
Starbucks is planning to revamp 1,000 locations across the next year to meet Niccol’s desire to turn the chain into a “third place”.
This refers to a destination outside of work and the home where people can go to socialize.
Niccol has said how he wants to move away from a convenience-only format, and as a is zeroing in on improving the customer experience.
As a part of this, Niccol announced that Starbucks will be converting some of its mobile-only locations.
A Starbucks spokesperson also confirmed to The US Sun in an email that some of these locations will be converted into traditional coffeehouses with seating.
Niccol has also announced a new queueing system that won’t leave customers waiitng more than four minutes for a drink.
Niccol also hinted at investments in artifical intelligence to help, in an inivtae he called “Green Apron Service”.
This will see the introduction of a new Smart Queue technology that will utilize an algorithm to cut down on customer waiting times.
All of these changes do come at the expense of jobs, however, and Starbucks is going through two rounds of steep job cuts.
Denny’s – Denny’s has confirmed that up to 150 locations are set to close in the US by the end of the year as many of them are no longer profitable.
Red Lobster – The chain has said that it plans to close over 100 stores across the country this year as new CEO Damola Adamolekun takes over.
TGI Friday’s – TGI Friday’s is still being forced to shutter locations thanks to a bankruptcy filing, including 30 in April alone.
Applebee’s – This chain is projecting a loss of 20 to 35 Applebee’s spots in 2025 but is teaming up with IHOP to introduce dual-branded locations with a curated menu of the two’s best items.
Noodles & Company – This emporium is set to close between 17 and 21 locations in 2025 following a difficult 2024.
In February, Starbucks confirmed that 1,100 employees would be laid off at the corportate level.
Then, Niccol confirmed recently that a further 900 non-retail members of staff would be let go, too.
The job cuts come as the company is trying to get rid of unecessary expedtiture.
Howver, the resturturing plan will cost the company roughly $1 billion according to a filing sent to the SEC.
Roughly $150 million of that will be going towards employee separation benefits.
The store closures will also cost Starbucks hundreds of millions of dollars in early lease termination fees and other expenses.
Starbucks will spend $400 million on disposing store assets from the closing restaurants, and $450 million to end its lease contracts early.
A MAJOR United States city is set to begin implementing red light cameras at some of its busiest and most dangerous intersections.
The new cameras will hit drivers with fines as high as $486 for running red lights, as well as adding points to violating motorists’ driving records.
Four intersections in a major California city will have red light cameras installed in an effort to combat their histories of red light running and crashes.
The cameras will monitor both blatant red light running, as well as right turn rolling stops, starting on October 13.
The former will be fined as high as $486, while the latter will see drivers forced to pay $234. Each violation will add a point to the driving record of the motorist in question.
However, there will be a warning period for the first 60 days they’re active. While tickets will still be sent out during this period to raise awareness of the change, they will be billed as $0.
According to city officials, the cameras will take different still shots and a short video of the vehicle and its license plate going through the intersection, which will be used as evidence against offenders.
This evidence will then go to the San Jose Police Department, where it will be reviewed for validity before a ticket is issued to the vehicle’s registered owner.
“These are basically extensions of law enforcement,” said Colin Heyne with the city’s Department of Transportation on this methodology to local ABC affiliate KGO.
“We’ve chosen locations where we know there is a history of red light running that has caused crashes and particularly severe injury and fatal crashes,” he further elaborated.
Residents strongly support the implementation of red light camera technology at these dangerous intersections.
“I’m hoping it slows people down and people think a little bit, because they’re running these lights, and I’ve seen several accidents here,” said resident Anthony Greco.
“It’s a zoo. There’s speeding. There’s 2 o’clock in the morning burnout and donuts, and it’s crazy,” he added.
Locals at other problematic intersections have expressed similar sentiments.
“I think it’s great, because, you know, this stuff just continues to go unmonitored. You know, these things just continue to happen,” said Michael Powers.
The City of San Jose’s Department of Transportation did not immediately return The U.S. Sun’s request for comment.
According to a legally reviewed post, there are five effective strategies to fighting a speeding ticket if it was wrongfully issued.
Source: FindLaw
The city claims the cameras can save lives, with red light running being its second-highest contributing factor to traffic deaths and severe injuries.
“Last year, like most years, we had more traffic deaths than homicides,” said Mayor Matt Mahan in a press conference on Wednesday.
San Jose has been working on a plan to implement red light cameras since 2022, with the state of California legalizing them in the late 1990s.
Other major US areas are following similar suit, such as a New Jersey city using traffic cameras to look out for parking violations which it will then give to drivers with no immediate notification whatsoever.
In Tennessee, the city of Memphis recently installed speeding cameras which will give drivers a $50 fine for each and every documented violation.
New York City is taking its red light camera usage a step further to deter repeat offenders, who could now be slapped with up to $1,500 in fines.
THE SOCIAL Security Administration (SSA) will soon announce the 2026 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) which will give benefits a boost.
The announcement should take place on October 15, as long as the government shutdown has ended.
The government shutdown went into effect on October 1, impacting several government agencies like the SSA.
Because of the shutdown, many federal employees have been furloughed and there may be a delay in releasing the COLA.
“A government shut down could potentially delay an announcement of the COLA, but remember, the data is for September and that has already been collected,” Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare policy analyst, told USA TODAY.
However Social Security benefits will still be paid out to recipients on time, the administration said.
The buying power of Social Security benefits have been protected from inflation by COLAs tied to a subset of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since 1975.
CPI-W, a subset of the price index, tracks prices across over 200 goods and services based on their relative importance to hourly wage earners.
Each year, the percent increase in the CPI-W during July to September becomes the COLA for the next year.
The CPI-W for the third quarter of 2024 increased 2.5%. Therefore, Social Security benefits received a 2.5% COLA in 2025.
While the SSA still needs the inflation data from September to determine the 2026 COLA, The Senior Citizens League (SCL) estimates it will be 2.7%.
This would increase the average monthly benefit for retired workers by $54.
That would make the monthly payment $2,062, the SCL estimated.
During the last 20 years, COLA has been at an average of 2.6%.
The SCL also advised benefit recipients to prepare for a major change coming to how payments are delivered.
The SSA stopped mailing paper checks to recipients on September 30.
The change would only impact the less than 1% of beneficiaries.
The SSA now advises recipients to switch to electronic payment methods, like direct deposit or the Direct Express card.
The official COLA announcement should be issued in a press release on October 15.
The SSA will also send out notices by mail in December with exact dates and dollar amounts concerning updated benefits.
Source: Yahoo Finance
The notices will also have details concerning any deductions for federal income tax withholdings and deductions for Medicare.
COLA notices are also accessible through the my Social Security portal.
The additional monthly income would be based on a retired worker’s age.
Based on the average monthly benefit of June 2025, a 62-year-old retired worker receives $1,377 before COLA. They would receive an additional monthly income of $37 at a 2.7% COLA.
A 65-year-old retired worker would receive an additional $44 after COLA, making their average payment $1,657.
As the average benefit increases between ages 62 and 70, a higher monthly additional income will be noticeable.