Starbucks lovers in Cape Girardeau can breathe a sigh of relief.

The location at 188 Vantage Dr. is not among the 616 coffee shops that will close by March 2009.

The company on Thursday released a full list of stores it plans to close. That list includes 17 Missouri locations, most of which are in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Only the Jennings, Mo., store has a firm closing date. That location will shut its doors by the end of July.

The hardest-hit states are California, Florida and Texas, who will lose 88, 59 and 57 stores respectively.

Store management in Cape Girardeau would not comment but referred the Southeast Missourian to its corporate headquarters in Seattle, Wash.

"In the spirit of transparency with our partners, customers and communities, we have provided the full list of stores below for general information purposes," company officials said in a press release. "Store partners will receive advance notice and more details from their leadership team once a specific closure date has been confirmed. After specific closure dates have been communicated to all affected partners, we will continue to update the confirmed store list."

The Cape Girardeau location opened in October 2007. During the 1990s and early 2000s, stores like the one in Cape Girardeau were opened at a pace of one location per day.

However, some stores proved unprofitable, forcing the July 1 announcement that the company was closing about 8 percent of its stores in the United States. Most of the stores scheduled for closure were opened since 2006. As part of its cost-cutting efforts, the company expects to open less than 200 new stores in fiscal year 2009.

While approximately 12,000 employees nationwide will be affected by the move, Starbucks officials said that some of them will be offered positions at stores that remain open. Employees who are not placed at a nearby store will receive a severance package based on pay and position.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137