Case Study

The Case Study

Darcy Willson-Rymer, managing director of Starbucks UK and Ireland, is lost for words over the coffee giant's fall in sales in the UK last year, according to Moulds (2009). Usually every inch the fast-talking salesman, he is dumbstruck on this fundamental point. "Down on what?" he asks eventually. As managing director of an international subsidiary of a corporate behemoth, Willson-Rymer can hide behind the fact that the UK's figures are not broken out in financial statements. Except last year's annual report stated quite clearly that sales in Starbucks' biggest international subsidiaries, the UK and Canada, were down. We can safely assume it is referring to sales compared with the previous year. After much humming and haing, the Canadian-born 43-year old says: "What you'll find is there was a general point in time where there was a pause. If you take the City, for example, that was more affected than elsewhere. A little bit in what we call transportation, so railways and airports." Willson-Rymer took the job of UK managing director last August, shortly after the group posted its first quarterly loss in 16 years. "Certainly it's been an interesting year," he says. "It's been very hard work, first of all coming in and trying to set a strategy, then hitting a brick wall in terms of the recession and having to course correct and adjust to that." Globally, Starbucks has launched a programme to slash costs by $500m (£306m) in the year to September. In the UK, part of that appears to be through cafe closures. Laura Chesters, news editor of Property Week, says: "When Starbucks began its rapid expansion in the UK it often ended up paying very high rents for prime locations. "Many of these shops will now be unprofitable in comparison to other coffee operators who have chosen more realistic locations with more affordable rents." At present, the chain has more than 700 stores across the UK & Ireland. As UK high streets have grown more and more alike, Britons...