What Happened Today

Starbucks To Close Hundreds of Stores

Message from Brian: An Important Update​

September 25, 2025
Partners,
I’m grateful for the work everyone is doing to put world-class customer service at the center of everything we do and focus on creating an elevated Starbucks experience for every customer, every time.
While we’re making good progress, there is much more to do to build a better, stronger, and more resilient Starbucks. As we approach the beginning of our new fiscal year, I’m sharing two decisions we’ve made in support of our Back to Starbucks plan. Both are grounded in putting our resources closest to the customer so we can create great coffeehouses, offer world-class customer service, and grow the business.

Changes to some of our coffeehouses

First, I shared earlier this year that we were carefully reviewing our North America coffeehouse portfolio through the additional lens of our Back to Starbucks plan. Our goal is for every coffeehouse to deliver a warm and welcoming space with a great atmosphere and a seat for every occasion.
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.
Each year, we open and close coffeehouses for a variety of reasons, from financial performance to lease expirations. 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.
To put it into context: Since we’ve already opened numerous coffeehouses over the past year, our overall company-operated count in North America will decline by about 1% in fiscal year 2025 after accounting for both openings and closures.
We will end the fiscal year with nearly 18,300 total Starbucks locations – company operated and licensed – across the U.S. and Canada. In fiscal year 2026, we’ll grow the number of coffeehouses we operate as we continue to invest in our business. Over the next 12 months, we also plan to uplift more than 1,000 locations to introduce greater texture, warmth, and layered design.

It's coffee.
We can appreciate pedestrians stepping into a Starbucks for shelter from harsh Winter weather, and warming to some hot java.
Does this corporate belt-tightening suggest Starbucks has reached consumer's cost : benefit threshold?
 
wjNgWY0.png

Trump controls Congress, the courts, and the executive branch, but still governs through threats.

Federal workers face mass firing warnings, Portland gets unwanted troops, foreign leaders lose visas for dissent, educators lose jobs for speaking freely, all while his family turns the White House into a fashion shoot that he then travels to a golf tournament to help promote. When you have all the power but still rule through fear and greed, you're admitting your agenda can't win on its merits.

Do not let him and the GOP rewrite history. Donald Trump's supporters broke into our Capitol, erected a gallows, hurt police officers, and even used public areas as toilets. You saw it with your own eyes, probably as it unfurled minute by minute. Correct the people around you spreading the lies.


[1] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-deploy-troops-portland
[2] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-lies-jan6-fbi
[3] https://go.govbrief.today/us-revokes-petro-visa
[4] https://go.govbrief.today/shutdown-talks-congressional-leaders
[5] https://go.govbrief.today/des-moines-superintendent-leave
[6] https://go.govbrief.today/abrego-garcia-transfer-pennsylvania
[7] https://go.govbrief.today/cpb-pushes-trump-order
[8] https://go.govbrief.today/kai-trump-teen-fashion
[9] https://go.govbrief.today/educators-file-suit-dismissals
 
WWMPlWU.png

qRsGpWZ.png


They fired the whistleblowers who exposed fair housing violations, shot pepper rounds at a journalist documenting ICE operations, and charged activists for posting an agent's address online.

On the same day, Trump collected $24.5 million from YouTube, slashed coal royalties while tripling public land access, and his former campaign manager registered as Israel's foreign agent to influence young Americans and AI models like ChatGPT. The grift happens in daylight because they've made documenting it the crime.

Screenshot. Archive. Share.

When they attack the people who expose corruption harder than they punish the corruption itself, your documentation becomes resistance.


[1] https://go.govbrief.today/cbs-reporter-pepper-spray
[2] https://go.govbrief.today/pritzker-troops-ice-chicago
[3] https://go.govbrief.today/ice-agent-doxing-charges
[4] https://go.govbrief.today/parscale-foreign-agent-israel
[5] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-netanyahu-gaza-plan
[6] https://go.govbrief.today/hud-whistleblower-lawyers-fired
[7] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-housing-aid-cuts
[8] https://go.govbrief.today/coal-mining-federal-lands
[9] https://go.govbrief.today/govt-shutdown-looms-24hours
[10] https://go.govbrief.today/shuttle-discovery-move-blocked
[11] https://go.govbrief.today/iowa-revokes-roberts-license
[12] https://go.govbrief.today/harvard-hhs-grants-endangered
[13] https://go.govbrief.today/judge-blocks-trump-lake
[14] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-doj-supersedes-mpsb
[15] https://go.govbrief.today/fema-cbp-data-breach
[16] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-ai-deepfake-vulgar
[17] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-foreign-film-threat
[18] https://go.govbrief.today/youtube-settles-trump-lawsuit
[19] https://go.govbrief.today/find-local-healthcare-cuts
 
aljazeera01.JPG
EXPLAINER

The US government has shut down – what happens now?​

Hundreds of thousands of federal employees to be furloughed while others, including FBI and CIA agents, will work without pay.
By Sarah Shamim / Published On 1 Oct 2025
The United States government shutdown began on Wednesday after Democrats and Republicans in the Senate failed to agree on a short-term government funding plan.

Why has the US government shut down?

The US government shutdown began on 00:01 EDT (04:01 GMT) on Wednesday, which marked the beginning of the new fiscal year, at which point, the past year’s funding for government operations expired.
Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but failed to gather consensus to pass their bill laying out funding for government operations until November 21. Without this bill, the government cannot function.
Democrats refused to support the bill unless Republicans reverse recent cuts to Medicaid enacted under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill in July. Democrats proposed alternative solutions to the bill, but these were rejected by the Republicans. Congress was left deadlocked.
 
KqPSzTg.png

UQ8wM8r.png

w2uKV6H.png

You know that panicked feeling when you're sprinting through a store at closing time?

That's today's news. Thirty-one stories dropped as the government shut down. All of the generals worldwide were summoned for loyalty tests, the president posted racist deepfakes twice, journalists were attacked by ICE two days in a row, and a judge ruling against Trump was threatened.

While we scrambled to keep up, they grabbed their grift on the way out: lithium mining stakes, crypto billionaires choosing their regulators, and a $66 million gift from Florida to Trump so he can park his gift jet from Qatar next to Mar-a-Lago.

Pick one story from today. Read it completely. Share it with someone who needs to see it. That is how we fight back when they're counting on exhaustion.


[1] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-unconstitutional-first-amendment
[2] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-posts-racist-meme
[3] https://go.govbrief.today/ice-agents-journalists-nyc
[4] https://go.govbrief.today/feds-sue-protesters-synagogue
[5] https://go.govbrief.today/fbi-nz-gun-gift
[6] https://go.govbrief.today/bukele-us-ambassador-shield
[7] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-pfizer-rx-prices
[8] https://go.govbrief.today/fairfax-schools-probe-abortion
[9] https://go.govbrief.today/title-ix-trans-minnesota
[10] https://go.govbrief.today/eeoc-discrimination-tool-shelved
[11] https://go.govbrief.today/chantilly-ice-conditions-improving
[12] https://go.govbrief.today/us-iran-deportation
[13] https://go.govbrief.today/us-lithium-americas-stake
[14] https://go.govbrief.today/gov-shutdown-trump-crisis
[15] https://go.govbrief.today/ftc-zillow-redfin-suit
[16] https://go.govbrief.today/bls-nominee-withdrawn
[17] https://go.govbrief.today/landry-requests-guard-louisiana
[18] https://go.govbrief.today/hegseth-trump-military-gathering
[19] https://go.govbrief.today/judge-rules-chattah-ineligible
[20] https://go.govbrief.today/senate-social-security-age
[21] https://go.govbrief.today/mn-immigration-fraud-claimed
[22] https://go.govbrief.today/texas-ice-victim-dies
[23] https://go.govbrief.today/superintendent-roberts-resigns-iowa
[24] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-says-harvard-deal
[25] https://go.govbrief.today/house-girjalva-swearing-in
[26] https://go.govbrief.today/hud-shutdown-blame-banner
[27] https://go.govbrief.today/emails-trump-no-blame
[28] https://go.govbrief.today/florida-trump-library-miami
[29] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-inspector-general-council
[30] https://go.govbrief.today/quintenz-cftc-nomination-withdrawal
[31] https://go.govbrief.today/ifpte-union-wins-victory
 
tFy1RSO.png

PY4onu5.png


You may have been one of the millions Trump punished today.

He cut funds to states that didn't vote for him, denied a dying man medication, and hijacked federal workers' voices to force partisan messages.

But rangers keep defying orders, scientists keep blowing whistles, prosecutors keep refusing to indict his enemies.

They're making choices that will cost them everything - choices most of us will forget in days. Don't let their sacrifice be for nothing. Make your stand today: call your representatives and demand they name this retaliation publicly.

[1] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-democrats-hate-evil
[2] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-epstein-statue-returns
[3] https://go.govbrief.today/fda-approves-generic-mifepristone
[4] https://go.govbrief.today/kennedy-fires-nih-whistleblower
[5] https://go.govbrief.today/fbi-pride-flag-dismissal
[6] https://go.govbrief.today/mi-immigrant-custody-leukemia
[7] https://go.govbrief.today/wic-shutdown-funding-risk
[8] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-punishes-clean-energy
[9] https://go.govbrief.today/smithsonian-shuttle-discovery-warning
[10] https://go.govbrief.today/apple-iceblock-app-removed
[11] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-cutting-democratic-agencies
[12] https://go.govbrief.today/military-as-immigration-judges
[13] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-declares-cartel-conflict
[14] https://go.govbrief.today/va-prosecutors-fired
[15] https://go.govbrief.today/ian-roberts-gun-charge
[16] https://go.govbrief.today/18-transferred-out-guantonamo
[17] https://go.govbrief.today/ed-dept-ooo-messages
[18] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-embraces-project-2025
[19] https://go.govbrief.today/eisenhower-library-head-ousted
[20] https://go.govbrief.today/newsom-threatens-capitulating-schools
 
CmRLlDI.png

FeVvVKd.png

The House of Representatives has no votes scheduled for nine days while Trump runs amok and acts like the First Emperor of America. The US military attacked another boat in international waters today, killing four more people without proof or due process. America has killed 21 people in this way over the last month. We even learned from a Trump aide's carelessness that there are serious plans to deploy the 82nd Airborne to Portland, Oregon.

No more hand-wringing or discussions. You need to be actively opposing this every day. Find events in your community that will help you start taking our country back. There will be national events, but those are doomed to fail without a strong local foundation.


[1] https://go.govbrief.today/fbi-splc-musk-patel
[2] https://go.govbrief.today/ice-social-media-surveillance
[3] https://go.govbrief.today/hamas-israel-deal-conditions
[4] https://go.govbrief.today/salvadoran-journalist-deported
[5] https://go.govbrief.today/nm-bill-fed-cuts
[6] https://go.govbrief.today/birthright-citizenship-second-appeal
[7] https://go.govbrief.today/supreme-court-venezuela-tps
[8] https://go.govbrief.today/migrant-children-self-deport
[9] https://go.govbrief.today/us-colombia-un-criticism
[10] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-chicago-infrastructure-funding
[11] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-prosecutor-deadline-georgia
[12] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-flag-burning-jail
[13] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-dollar-coin-treasury
[14] https://go.govbrief.today/hegseth-fires-navy-cos
[15] https://go.govbrief.today/hegseth-ig-signal-probe
[16] https://go.govbrief.today/miller-aide-military-leak
[17] https://go.govbrief.today/us-kills-4-boat
[18] https://go.govbrief.today/florida-immigration-grant-608M
[19] https://go.govbrief.today/abrego-garcia-vindictive-prosecution
[20] https://go.govbrief.today/noem-broadview-city-hall
[21] https://go.govbrief.today/house-cancels-next-week
[22] https://go.govbrief.today/edu-dept-lawsuit-email
 
chwIpkC.png

Trump dropped the façade today and ordered troops into Chicago and Portland.

A federal judge has blocked any Oregon deployment for now. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is calling this Trump's Invasion, and it's hard not to see it as anything but a pretext.

The ACLU is offering free training on Zoom on Monday night at 8pm ET. You'll learn about what rights you have while protesting and how to do so safely. That will get you set for the No Kings day of mass actions in hundreds of cities nationwide.

There are soldiers on the ground in four cities and he's trying to get to a fifth if he can override the judge keeping them out of Portland. Make sure you know what your rights are.


[1] https://go.govbrief.today/dc-molotov-arrest-cathedral
[2] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-soybean-aid
[3] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-guard-deployment-blocked
[4] https://go.govbrief.today/national-guard-chicago-deployment
[5] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-maritime-murders-kindness[
6] https://go.govbrief.today/trump-sailor-back-pay
[7] https://go.govbrief.today/disability-payments-age-exemptions
[8] https://go.govbrief.today/free-no-kings-training
 
Back
Top