Save Mart Closing In-Store Cafes

JON SPRINGER

MODESTO, Calif. — Save Mart Supermarkets here said it would close all 47 of the Pacific Coast Café coffee kiosks in its stores on Oct. 10.

“Although Pacific Coast Café offered high value coffee products and despite Save Mart Supermarkets’ best efforts to promote the Cafés, they have not achieved the critical mass of customers needed to sustain them,” the company said in a statement. “No doubt the troubled economy has contributed to our customers’ decisions to not buy what they perceived to be a luxury, not a necessity.”

Save Mart said the space formerly occupied by the cafes would be used for additional sales and promotions. All but two employees assigned to the cafes would be transferred to other positions, the company added.

Save Mart had rolled out Pacific Coast kiosks after Starbucks declined to renew its license in Save Mart stores in 2008.