According to staffers at area stores, all 32 Caribou Coffee locations throughout the state are slated to close. The rumors have been swirling around for the past couple days, but employees learned via a conference call on April 5 that all the Ohio stores will close.
Caribou has locations in Tower City, Avon, Lakewood, Westlake, Beachwood and Rocky River among others throughout Northeast Ohio region.
Most stores will likely convert to Peet’s Coffee and Tea, the company Caribou parent company Joh. A. Benckiser Group acquired earlier this year from the for $1 billion.
Peet’s Coffee was founded in Berkeley, CA, and is now headquartered in Emeryville, CA. The majority of its stores are located in California, but also has locations in Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington state.
Although a local manager confirmed that “most stores in the area will become Peet’s,” no specifics on which ones and when is available.
This article appears in Apr 3-9, 2013.
Caribou needed a bit more advertising cause one never heard a peep from them…At least Starbucks is active in their local communities….
Caribou coffee is not great coffee. Peet’s is known for extremely over-roasted, very dark coffee. The darker a roast, the less the original species flavor is left in the cup. It’s a good way to mask the taste of cheaper beans. I roast my own beans at home, on the stovetop, in a heavy cast iron pan (you need a good fan). It’s about half the cost of retail beans, and you can get any beans you like. The whole process takes 6 minutes!
I’m not a coffee drinker, so I can’t tell you what’s a good cup of coffee and what isn’t. I really hope, however, that the stores stay open and just re-brand so the workers can all keep their jobs.