Top Foods Starbucks location to close

A Yakima Valley Starbucks is among 600 stores nationwide slated for closure.

Statewide, the giant coffee chain will close 19 stores in an effort to boost its business and weed out unprofitable locations.

There are at least eight Starbucks in the upper Yakima Valley, but only the store at 2203 S. First St. is on the list of planned closures.

The store is located at Top Foods. Stores with similar partnerships with Top Foods will be closed in Wenatchee and Federal Way, Wash.

The company announced earlier this month that it would close 600 company-owned stores in the U.S. starting in July and continuing through the first half of the next fiscal year. But Starbucks hasn't said which locations would be shut down until now.

The move to close the stores is a turnabout from Starbucks' aggressive expansion plans. The company curtailed those plans as it saw traffic and its profits decline recently.

The struggling economy has forced many consumers to question their spending on pricey coffee.