Santa Monica Starbucks Closes Permanently On Main Street

SANTA MONICA, CA — A second Starbucks location closed in Santa Monica this week, another business leaving Ocean Park's Main Street amid the pandemic.

People were packing up the store early Tuesday, filling up moving boxes and placing them inside the truck. Green cones were placed outside the store and the outdoor tables and chairs were gone. A printed sign on the door explained that the store at 2671 Main Street, near Hill Street, closed permanently on Monday.

Patch reached out to Starbucks for information about the closure and asked the company if the decision to close the store is directly tied to the pandemic.

"As part of Starbucks' standard course of business, we continually evaluate our business to ensure a healthy store portfolio," Allison Clark of Starbucks told Patch. "After careful consideration, we determined it was best to close the store at 2671 Main Street in Santa Monica, CA. Our last day at this location was October 19, 2020."

Employees at this location were apparently offered the opportunity to transfer to another nearby location, and there are other Starbucks stores in the area. The store at 1356 3rd Street Promenade is still open, along with 1705 Ocean Ave. near Tongva Park and the Santa Monica Courthouse and Santa Monica City Hall.

There are also several locations inside Vons, Pavilion's and Ralphs stores, and another at Santa Monica Place at the East Wing.

"As difficult as this is, we must make the right business decisions for the sake of Starbucks long-term growth," Clark said. "We look forward to continuing to serve the Santa Monica community and encourage our customers to visit us at our nearby locations at 3030 Lincoln Blvd. or 1705 Ocean Ave."

A Starbucks location on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica also closed its doors permanently in April, but the timing is unrelated to the coronavirus outbreak, a Starbucks spokesperson told Patch at the time. Starbucks was planning to close the location at 1426 Montana Avenue for some time before the coronavirus pandemic, Starbucks employee Jory Mendes tells Patch.

Several businesses have closed in Santa Monica in the economic fallout of the pandemic, including some longtime local businesses along Main Street. In August, surf and skate shop ZJ Boarding House closed after 32 years in Santa Monica. After 41 years in the city, Enterprise Fish Co. has decided to leave its Ocean Park location.

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