{shortcode-6fdbca6546658052eca0fd12e355707c8ce2282e}

The Harvard Square Starbucks located on 1 John F. Kennedy St. is set to serve its final customers on Saturday as part of a nationwide closure of stores by the company.

The company posted a message on the front door of the JFK Street Starbucks on Friday, informing customers that they made the “incredibly difficult decision” to close the store by the end of the week.

The closure of the Harvard Square location, which opened in 2022 and previously housed the famous Curious George Store, was announced only one day after Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol released a statement saying the company would close 1 percent of its stores in North America that it identified as underperforming as part of the “Back to Starbucks” initiative. Starbucks has not released an official list of closing stores, but unofficial tallies show that more than 180 locations are set to close in the United States so far.

“During the review, we identified coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance, and these locations will be closed,” Niccol wrote in the statement.

A spokesperson for Starbucks did not specify why the Harvard Square location was chosen to close.

At least 20 Starbucks locations in Massachusetts are set to close Sunday, including two Cambridge stores located on 1662 Massachusetts Ave. — near Lesley University and the Radcliffe Quadrangle — and 11 First St. The store located in the Broadway Marketplace is not scheduled to close.

Alazar D. Ayele, a tutor in Eliot House who frequents the Starbucks in Harvard Square, said the closure will be an inconvenience for obtaining his preferred coffee.

“If there’s no Starbucks, my go-to has always been Black Sheep Bagel, but that’s now obviously further from where I live, so it’s going to make it a bit more of a step away to get there,” Ayele said.

Others, like Amy J. Hwang ’26, said that the variety of coffee shops in Harvard Square means that the closure of Starbucks would have little impact.

“I’m not upset that the Starbucks is closing at all because I feel like there’s so many coffee options in the Square, and it was definitely the worst one,” Hwang said.

Starbucks is laying off 900 non-retail employees alongside the nationwide closures, informing those employees to work from home Friday and Saturday. The restructuring comes after the company faced six straight quarters of declining sales at stores open for at least a year.

Starbucks baristas at the Harvard Square location voted unanimously to join Starbucks Workers United — a union representing Starbucks baristas — this past May. In a statement, the union blasted Niccol for ignoring the voices of their workers.

“This announcement makes it clear things are only going Backwards at Starbucks under Brian Niccol’s leadership,” the union wrote. “Yet again, we’re experiencing new policies and major decisions being made with zero barista input.”

Starbucks wrote that unionization did not affect their decision to close stores in the statement on their website.

“Store closure decisions have been made through a thoughtful, lawful process and union representation is not a factor. We’re working with Workers United on next steps for the partners they represent,” the company wrote.

The union has been at odds with Niccol as contract negotiations have stalled over pay increases, dress code changes, and increased employee tasks — such as handwriting notes on cups.

In the wake of the closures, Starbucks Workers United is urging Starbucks to negotiate a final contract with the union.

“It has never been more clear why baristas at Starbucks need the backing of a union,” the union wrote. “We’re demanding Starbucks finalize a fair union contract with 12,000 union baristas.”

“For less than one average day’s sales, we can address the remaining items in the contract and move forward,” they added.

The Harvard Square Starbucks location will shut its doors at 9 p.m. Saturday.

—Staff writer Kevin Zhong can be reached at kevin.zhong@thecrimson.com.