The coffee chain used to be a city fixture. Now it’s in retreat.
5 minutes to read
It’s not yet 9 a.m. on a recent weekday, and the last Starbucks standing in downtown Boston is already slammed.
coffees are lined up on the counter waiting to be claimed by customers who ordered on their phones. Baristas are scrambling to keep up, calling out a procession of drinks — cold foam this, non-dairy milk that — as office workers crowd into the cramped café. Wedged between the tourist crush of Faneuil Hall and the towers of Boston’s financial district, the shop is struggling to keep pace. Wait times for a single drink are stretching beyond half an hour…