Starbucks Sees Sales Dropping

Starbucks Corp said it expects sales at established restaurants to decline in its fiscal year ending September 2009.

 Seattle-based Starbucks said in a
filing it expects to report negative comparable-store sales for next
years fiscal. Company's executives gave multiple scenarios for what
could happen to fiscal 2009 earnings, but declined to issue a new
forecast. Analysts at the time interpreted the comments as
effectively lowering its full-year outlook.
In fiscal 2008,
Starbucks closed 205 of the 600 stores slated to be shuttered by the
end of fiscal 2009. Starbucks was feeling the effects of overbuilding
in the United States before the economy took a sharp turn for the
worse. Comparable sales fell 5 percent in the United States during
fiscal 2008, with results worsening throughout the year. Comparable
sales also declined in Canada and the United Kingdom, two of the
company's top international markets.