Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is shutting down two juice bars in Seattle. Branded Evolution Fresh, the two juice bars have been operational for five years. There are also others located in San Francisco and Bellevue which are struggling and are also expected to shut down in the near future. The Evolution Fresh brand was acquired by Starbucks in 2011 for $30 million.

Final moments

The last day of the Evolution Fresh juice bar in the downtown part of Seattle will be March 3. As for the other one located in the U village, the last day of operations will be June 30.

The shutting down of the stores will, however, not mean the end of the brand. Starbucks will continue to sell bottled juices at its coffee shops and also through some selected grocers. There are also plans to grow the brand further with new products such as a superfood line that counts coconut milk as one of its ingredients.

It will also not be a totally wasted effort as the juice bars have given Starbucks insight into the needs of consumers with regards to the kind of menus that would do well with this health-conscious group.

Wholesaler before retailer

Before being acquired by Starbucks, Evolution Fresh was in the wholesale business where it supplied retailers such as Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM). Starbucks launched Evolution Fresh as a retail juice bar a year later. The first store was located in Bellevue, Washington before the brand was spread to other locations. Besides juice, salads, soups, and wraps were also sold at each of the locations. Last year in March, Starbucks introduced four new flavors of juice. Two of these flavors were marketed as being part of Starbucks’ protein power range of products.

It is understood that the juice bars were a pet project of Howard Schultz, the outgoing chief executive officer of Starbucks. Schultz’s tenure ends in April though he will not be leaving Starbucks as he will be taking over the task of overseeing new coffee ventures for the upscale segment.

On Friday, shares of Starbucks Corporation fell by 0.28% to close the day at $57.48.