PORTFOLIO: If you want more proof that selling legal pot is a booming business, consider this statistic: Denver has more medical-marijuana shops than Starbucks Corp. locations. Denver’s City Treasurer Steve Ellington tells ABC New affiliate Channel 7 that at least 390 pot dispensaries applied for a sales-tax license recently. That compares to 208 Starbucks in the entire state of Colorado, the station reports. Denver’s city council took a step toward regulating the marijuana stores last night, and the businesses are filing their tax applications. The Denver statistic sheds light on a business that is becoming more institutionalized as local governments […]
JAVA: Starbucks To Close 600 Stores, Fire 12,000
WALL STREET JOURNAL: In its most significant pullback yet to its U.S. expansion, Starbucks Corp. said it will close an additional 500 U.S. stores and cut 7% of its work force. The move effectively ends Starbucks’ era as a break-neck growth company, one that blanketed the country with about 11,000 locations nationwide since the late 1980s. It’s also a sign that the specialty coffee business is taking a troubling turn just as mainstream companies like McDonald’s Corp. are beginning to invest heavily in it. Starbucks said the 500 locations, as well as 100 others it slated for closure earlier this […]