Many Illinois Caribou Coffee Locations Closing This Week

By Anthony Todd in Food on Apr 8, 2013 6:40PM

In a shocking move by a familiar brand, Caribou Coffee announced that they will be closing most of their Illinois locations.

According to the Tribune, Caribou was recently taken private by a German investment company. The new management team will be closing many Caribou locations. Some of the old cafes will be converted to Peet's Coffee & Tea locations, but it's not clear which or how many.

"Over the past few months, we at Caribou have revisited our business strategy, including closely evaluating our performance by market to make decisions that best position us for long-term growth," Caribou President Mike Tattersfield said in a statement.

Chicago isn't the only city being hit by closures. Charlotte, N.C., is being hit hard, and all 36 locations in Ohio are closing. More than 1,000 employees in Chicago will lose their jobs as a result of the closings.

Correction: An earlier version of this post stated that all Chicago-Area Caribou locations would close on Sunday, citing a Tribune article to that effect. In fact, most of the locations closing this week will be in the Chicago suburbs, while the majority of Illinois locations will close over the next year.