Peet’s Closes Midwest Stores

Peet’s Coffee & Tea (Emeryville, Calif.) has put a sudden halt to the Midwest expansion it launched in summer 2013.

This week, the specialty coffee and tea company announced that it will immediately close its six Ohio, two Michigan and three Pennsylvania units, and refocus its efforts on top-performing markets — Chicago, Washington D.C., Boston and California.

“We are providing our employees at least six weeks of pay and benefits support that will take them through the end of January,” according to a press release. “This means we're paying them at their normal hourly rate through the end of this year plus at least one month of severance support.”