Back in the day, around 2002 or so, I wondered aloud whether anyone knew of any Starbucks that had actually closed.  I was walking through the Financial District in San Francisco at the time and one of my companions said he saw where one had closed but another one opened around the corner. “That’s just moving,” I said, “and it doesn’t count.”

But apparently even the relatively inelastic demand of our nationwide caffeine/sugar combo fix can’t postpone the announcement that Starbucks will be closing 600 stores, most opened recently.  Even more interesting, the article mentions an “internal watch list.” Starbucks has been keeping an eye on its unprofitable stores without actually closing them:

They were not profitable, not expected to be profitable in the foreseeable future, and the “vast majority” had been opened near an existing company-operated Starbucks, Bocian said.

In other words, Starbucks bizzare strategy of competing with itself backfired. As usual when a company announces that it is scaling back operations and kicking employees to the curb, SBUX gained in extended hours trading.

The article did not get specifc to Sacramento, but it did get me to wondering which Starbucks locally would could be the target of a closure.  There are about 20 Starbucks within two or three miles of the Capitol.

My nominations of ones likely to get the axe (in no particular order, and not necessarily ones I think should close):

J Street and 26th. I love this Starbucks. When I lived in East Sac it had just opened and I’d always stop in on my way in to work (walking) downtown. It’s long and narrow, it’s cramped, and it’s virtually hidden among all of the other businesses along J Street. Blink and you might miss it. Which is its problem. There’s another one just seven blocks west that is far more popular.  I’ve never seen this one crowded, except maybe around Christmas.

717 K Street. This Starbucks at the light rail stop right before the train turns south, by the Westfield Mall, has an interesting mix of state workers, attorney-looking types, and their clients. It is an unfortunate Starbucks in a very unfortunate location. Given that there is another at the other end of the mall, as well as a very popular one on 9th between I and J, I’d put this one high on my list of closures.

Safeway at 19th & S. C’mon, there’s a Peets at the other end of the parking lot for God’s sake. You don’t even have to cross a street.

Which ones do you think (dear reader) are likely targets for closure? Any in the ‘burbs?

In Sacramento County during the second quarter of this year, the number of homes going into foreclosure stood at 1,866. That compares to 857 foreclosures for the same time last year — an increase of 118 percent.

I did the math. My wife and I recently looked at some homes priced below the area median. We discovered that, with a particular kind of ARM, we could, in theory, get a loan big enough to buy the house and exhaust our savings. So, after working out a bare-bones budget, and factoring in the impending child care and other life changes, I discovered that we could easily find ourselves in the red, dependent on credit cards — going into more debt just so that we could call ourselves “homeowners.” And then there’s the little factor of the AR in ARM. If our payments went up (and they would), we’d be, to be technical about it, screwed.