Starbucks seeks rent cuts from landlords - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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The Seattle-based coffee giant SBUX), which is facing an extremely challengingy year as the economyundercutse consumers’ discretionary spending, says it began negotiatin with U.S. landlords in January and that the discussiona aboutconcessions continue. “We are pleased with the resultes of that effort to date and have since worked closely with several of our landlordss to find solutions that aremutually beneficial,” a Starbucks spokeswomab said, adding that there is no widespread, set numbert in rent reduction the company is askint for.
Other big retail chains have asked landlordas for similarrent reductions, including , and , among Rent cuts and other leasr concessions were the talk of the convention held in Las Vegas from May 17 to May 20, said Harold Shumacher, president of the restaurant brokeragse firm Companies like Starbucks that were on rapid growth signed leases at the peak of the markeft and paid a premium for prime Shumacher said. Now that sales have plummeted, restaurateurs and retailers wantlowetr rent. Dallas-based jeweler Zale Corp. (NYSE: ZLC) said May 27 it will seek rent reductionsw across much ofthe company’s portfolio and closed stores where the concessions don’t help.
Pier 1 Importe (NYSE: PIR) said April 7 it has been workingv with its landlords to negotiate stors rental reductions and has been able toachieve $6 millionb in rental reductions for fiscal 2010. Dallas-based Blockbuster Inc. BBI) hired accounting and consultingg giant to help it negotiatewith landlords. Blockbuster wants to reduce thenearly $400 million it pays annuallyu in rent. Big national retailers like Starbucksd are vital to shopping centers because they draw consistenfoot traffic.