Yuba City Starbucks closing at end of month

Iced double-shot tall latte, a double mocha and a $4.50 green tea frappuccino with whipped cream — they were among favorites of customers Thursday at the soon-to-be-closed Starbucks on Colusa Avenue across from Forever 21.

"You can put the world to rights over a nice cup," said Susanne Dake, 63, a Yuba City resident and native of England.

Many remember the Starbucks as the first in the city when it opened a decade ago.

"It was a hot item," recalled Pete Haggart, 55.

But they said the site, one of six Starbucks in Yuba City, lacked a drive-through, was hard to access and didn't serve sandwiches because of a lease agreement for the property that is also home to a Togo's.

Starbucks media relations said in an email that the 887 Colusa Ave. store will close at the end of the month.

"As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate our store portfolio, using various criteria to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers," a Starbucks Co. representative stated. "We look forward to continuing to serve our customers at our other Yuba City and Marysville locations." Brad Huntley, 72, co-owner of a Marysville insurance company, for years looked forward to an iced double tall latte from the store.

"It's a very expensive habit I do more than once a day," he said outside the store where he sipped on the coffee and smoked a Zino Grand Classic Sumatra cigar — another habit, Huntley added.

"I am disappointed," Huntley said. "I'll go to another one."

The additional local coffeehouses of the Seattle-based chain made the Colusa Avenue site closing easier for Yuba City resident Satpal Thiara.

"They're so many others in the town," she said.

Still, the Starbucks at Colusa and Gray avenues has its fans for the comfortable furniture inside and the outside seating. Dake recalled meeting with friends at the coffeehouse and said the site is the best to sit outside, sip coffee and talk.

Misty Nichols, 32, who works at the O'Reilly Auto Parts within walking distance of the Starbucks said she and other employees were customers.

"We go in there all the time," Nichols said.

Eliza Shona, 30, who works at a nearby business, said prices for Starbucks drinks meant she didn't visit the coffeehouse, but many of her customers did.

"We're going to miss them," Shona said of the coffeehouse.

CONTACT reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4780.