I really miss having a “third place.” If you don’t know what that is, think of the orange couch at Central Perk on the show “Friends,” or Niles and Frasier’s ironic and sophisticated dialogue at Café Nervosa on the show “Frasier.”  

A “third place” is a term used to describe an important social environment that is separate from the two primary environments of your life: your home (the first place) and your workplace (the second place). Third places play a much bigger role in our lives, communities, and culture than many realize. 

In his book The Great Good Place, sociologist Ray Oldenburg, who coined the term third place, argues that for a healthy society, people need neutral spaces to gather, relax, and talk without the pressures of family or professional productivity.

Nowadays, these places are slowly dying. As we become less social in real life and more active on social networks, and as corporate giants prioritize their balance sheets, third places are at risk.

Between skyrocketing coffee prices driven by 2025’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and a consumer shift toward home-delivery convenience, the latest casualty is a specialty coffee pioneer: Peet’s Coffee.

Popular specialty coffee chain Peet’s Coffee is closing roughly 30 locations amid its parent company’s takeover.

worradirek/Shutterstock.com

Peet’s Coffee chain permanently closing 30 locations

A popular specialty coffee chain, Peet’s Coffee confirmed the closure of several locations in January, days after an $18 billion-dollar takeover of its parent company JDE Peet’s. 

A Peet’s Coffee location in San Francisco’s Polk Gulch neighborhood is set to close for good this month, in addition to more locations. 

“These closures reflect a broader effort to align our business with long-term growth priorities and current market conditions. We are deeply grateful to our incredible employees and loyal customers for their continued commitment to the brand,” Stephanie O’Brien, a spokesperson for Peet’s, told SFGATE. 

O’Brien further noted that the chain will continue to focus on the quality and craftsmanship that have defined Peet’s for the past 60 years. 

Peet’s opened its Polk Street location back in 1993, which means the location is closing after a successful 33-year run. While Peet’s currently has more than 20 coffee shops in San Francisco, that number is expected to drop as more closures are confirmed. 

A store manager in Evanston, Illinois, told the Daily Northwestern that the chain is closing at least three locations in the Chicago area. The manager confirmed that the Evanston store will shutter on January 30, but has not revealed the location of the other two closures. 

Store managers said the changes could affect as many as 30 California stores, the San Francisco Chronicle also reported. 

Peet’s Coffee permanent closures revealed as of January 2026:

  • Castro District, San Francisco:  2257 Market Street, San Francisco, CA (Source:Hoodline)
  • Cole Valley, San Francisco: 919 Cole Street, San Francisco, CA (Source:Hoodline)
  • Polk Gulch, San Francisco: 2139C Polk Street, San Francisco, CA (Source:SFGATE) 
  • Downtown Evanston, Illinois: 1622 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL (Source:Evanston RoundTable)

Strategic shifts follow the JDE Peet’s acquisition

The closures mark a major shift in Peet’s business model, as the chain ended 2024 with 255 stores, or 1.2% fewer locations than at the end of 2023. Before the pandemic, at the end of 2019, Peet’s had nearly 400 locations, according to data from Nation’s Restaurant News. 

The forthcoming closures come on the heels of the announced takeover of parent company JDE Peet’s. 

On January 15, U.S. soft-drink giant Keurig Dr Pepper launched its $18 billion all-cash takeover bid for coffee and tea group JDE Peet’s, reported Reuters. 

Keurig is offering 31.85 euros for each share in JDE Peet’s, and the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of the year. Keurig plans to split the coffee and other beverage businesses into two publicly traded companies. 

With this acquisition, Keurig is “setting the stage for a global coffee company that could rival market leader Nestle,” Reuters pointed out. 

Given the recent news about closure, the idea of Nestle rivalry makes sense. It is highly likely that Peet’s Coffee business model will significantly change, and instead of the third place we are used to, the focus will be on the sale of bagged coffee beans, ground coffee, and coffee pods that are compatible with single-serve coffee makers like Keurig machines. 

As troubling consumer trends impact coffee stores, Starbucks fights back 

Peet’s and Starbucks began massive expansion in the 1990s, slowly but steadily replacing diner-style restaurants such as Denny’s, IHOP, and Sambo’s, which had been go-to coffee shops for many consumers, reported TheStreet’s Kirk O’Neil. 

And while Denny’s and IHOP are still popular breakfast restaurants, most people don’t think of them as coffee shops like Peet’s or Starbucks. This suggests that specialty coffee was just what consumers needed at the time. 

The demand for specialty coffee is definitely still high; however, given the wave of closures and bankruptcies among coffee places (other examples include Compass Coffee, Red Bay Coffee, and Tully’s Coffee), it appears that the stores are struggling.

The struggle is due not only to higher coffee costs, but also to a shift in consumer behavior, as many people make their coffee at home. 

According to the latest Mordor Intelligence and National Coffee Association (NCA) data for 2025-2026, retail coffee sales in supermarkets, grocery stores, and online for people to brew at home accounted for 87.25% of sales in 2025, and should rise at 5.22% CAGR. 

It’s hard to compete with such data, and that’s why we’ll probably see even more closures, even of iconic stores with a long history, such as Peet’s. In case you didn’t know, Peet’s also played an important role in the development of Starbucks. 

And while Starbucks remains the largest coffee chain in the U.S. by revenue and store footprint, it is not immune to the trend toward home coffee brewing. In 2025, the chain closed hundreds of coffee shops and laid off 900 employees as part of a $1 billion restructuring effort aimed at focusing on profitability and better-performing locations, reported Barron’s. 

Still, Peet’s Coffee rival Starbucks is not backing down. In September 2024, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol launched the “Back to Starbucks” strategy to revive the company’s true identity and revive the “third place” concept that fueled its initial growth. 

However, if the new trend continues or grows, there’s no doubt that we’ll have fewer and fewer third places in our communities, and the social impact of that change has yet to be seen. 

A brief Peet’s Coffee timeline

  • 1930s, early coffee training in Holland: Alfred Peet learns coffee roasting and grinding while working in his father’s business.
  • 1950s, international tea and coffee experience: Peet works in the tea trade in Indonesia and later moves to the United States, where he notices low coffee quality.
  • 1966, first Peet’s Coffee opens in Berkeley: Peet opens his first shop in Berkeley, California, focusing on fresh, dark-roasted coffee.
  • 1967, educating customers about better coffee: Peet emphasizes freshness, proper roasting, and selling coffee close to the roast date.
  • 1969, creation of Major Dickason’s Blend: One of Peet’s most famous and long-lasting blends is introduced.
  • 1971, influence on Starbucks founders: Peet trains three young entrepreneurs who later go on to found Starbucks.
  • 2000, nationwide grocery store expansion: Peet’s coffee becomes available in grocery stores across all 50 U.S. states.
  • 2014, expansion into premium tea: Peet’s acquires the Mighty Leaf Tea brand.
  • 2015, specialty coffee portfolio grows: Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Intelligentsia Coffee join the Peet’s family.
  • 2023, introduction of The Bright Collection: Peet’s launches new coffees highlighting lighter and brighter flavor profiles.
  • 2024, new home-brewing products: Peet’s introduces Ultra Coffee Concentrate for barista-style coffee at home.
    Source: Peet’s official website 

Consumers mourn closure of Peet’s locations, blaming corporate greed

News about the Peet’s closures spread online, and Reddit users shared their grief and blamed corporate greed.

The overall sentiment is that these neighborhood hubs are being sacrificed for the sake of a corporate market, even in locations that appear busy and profitable. 

More Closings

  • 127-year-old restaurant that invented legendary cocktail close
  • Controversial clothing store closes after 132-years
  • 91-years-old historic bar is closing permanently

“I live in Cole Valley and we are devastated that the Peets is closing. It’s a place for small groups to get together and have meetings over coffee and pastries and they always seem pretty busy especially with takeout. It’s definitely not about rental property or anything else it’s about corporate overlords taking over,” wrote user Savings-Breath-9118. 

User SaltMarketingGroup, who started the discussion said “I suspect that Dr. Pepper is just exiting the brick-and-mortar business entirely, rather than this being about individual store performance.” 

Others, like pineappleferry, shared their disappointment, “The Cole Valley and Castro locations are my favorites! I rely on those. What a shame. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given they were acquired. The community doesn’t matter to corporate.” 

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