Boston University’s Kenmore Starbucks location is “temporarily” shutting its doors beginning Tuesday, according to an email sent anonymously to The Daily Free Press.
Location Manager Nasiba Rexiati wrote in the email to employees that the Starbucks location at 500 Commonwealth Ave. will close for an unspecified length of time.
“The general business declined and makes it impossible to justify keeping the Kenmore location open,” Rexiati wrote. “Hopefully we will re-open next spring semester.”
BU Dining Services did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Nisha Sweet, a junior in the Questrom School of Business who has been working as a barista at the Kenmore Starbucks for more than two years, said that last she heard, Dining Services was considering opening the location to walk-ins — despite its locations being limited to Grubhub pick-up services this semester.
“I was shocked more than anything,” Sweet said. “And I was kind of sad, because I really like working with my coworkers.”
Sweet, a recipient of a Federal Work-Study grant, said she remains in the dark about what kind of support she will receive after she is laid off.
“I just don’t think anyone knows what’s going on right now,” Sweet said, “including my managers and my boss.”
In her email, Rexiati wrote she would “do [her] best” to help students find other on-campus positions.
The closure comes a week after Breadwinners, a sandwich shop located inside Questrom, also shut down Fall operations, according to the Dining Services website.
BU spokesperson Colin Riley wrote in an email the changes reflect students’ dining activity over the first six weeks of the semester.
Dining Services will continue to monitor student dining activity, Riley wrote, and will make adjustments to operations at locations where demand is low.
In a later interview, Riley added that the decision to reopen the Kenmore location in the Spring is dependent on how many students will come to campus.
Riley said the University has some “anecdotal” reasons to believe there will be more students on campus during Spring, but that a precise estimate will be uncertain until students can start indicating their decisions to BU.
The Kenmore Starbucks location will now be one of nine other campus dining locations closed for the semester, according to the Dining Services website. Closed locations include Law School Cafe, Bay State Underground and Fuller’s Pub.
College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Taji Tahtial said she is disappointed the Kenmore Starbucks location is closing, but not necessarily surprised, because she just discovered the location herself.
“I was planning on going there more often now that I knew where it was,” Tahtial said. “Now I can’t, so it’s not as convenient to go get coffee anymore.”
Tahtial said she feels not many people know that the Kenmore location is associated with BU, if they know about it at all.
“The location with the store itself could be better,” Tahtial said. “Maybe even just show students that you can use dining points there, or have a BU plaque or something to show that it’s affiliated with BU.”
