Novato's Oldest Starbucks Closes on De Long

The oldest of Novato's four Starbucks coffee shops — not including the two inside Safeway stores — closed its doors Thursday on De Long Avenue, and workers cleared out inventory and equipment Friday.

The store was in business for 13 years between a Shell gas station and the long-shuttered Novato Community House and adjacent to the Novato Police Department headquarters on Machin Avenue.

"The cops are pissed," said a Starbucks employee who did not want to be named.

Nine employees worked at the store and most of them were offered positions at other Starbucks outlets in Marin and Sonoma counties, the employee said. Longtime customers wished employees well on their last stops into the store, and some pulled into the parking lot not knowing the business was closing and expressing dismay.

Green signs atop the building were taken down and the large garbage bins in the parking lot were full of boxes and discarded material. Only two days earlier, the staff had decorated for the holidays.

A spokeswoman for Starbucks, reached by e-mail, confirmed that the shop at 880 De Long closed and said it's part of the company's standard course "to review and evaluate a healthy store portfolio."

Dave Losk of North Bay Property Advisors, the listing broker for the property, said the lease was expiring at the end of November and it was Starbucks' decision to not renew the lease. He said one of the factors was a center median on De Long that was installed earlier this year and stopped eastbound traffic from being able to turn into the shop's driveway.

Other factors in the closing are believed to include the 2007 opening of a Starbucks a half mile to the north on Redwood Boulevard and the De Long parking lot that has some steep spots and tight stalls.

Losk said he does know what kind of business will be moving into the shop.