Starbucks shuts its Kensington store Tuesday after 23 years

Starbucks shuts its Kensington doors after 23 years The latest but not last store to close in Kensington is Starbucks, which shut its doors Tuesday at 5. Brenna Rose reports.

CALGARY -- Starbucks at the corner of Kensington Road and 10a street shut its doors for good late Tuesday afternoon, after more than two decades at that location, becoming the latest casualty of a growing trend of small businesses pulling out of the area.

A Starbucks spokesperson told CTV News the company considers a number of factors when deciding to close a store, but didn’t give specifics.

"As a normal part of doing business, every year we open many new stores," it said in a release.  "We close some, and renovate/relocate a few others.  We consider many factors when we make these decisions."

Starbucks is one of about half a dozen Kensington shops shuttered in recent months. The store right next door, Livingstone Cavell Extraordinary Toys, will soon join that list.

"My boss is retiring and it was kind of a decision to go out on a high note. It's been a little slower over the last little while," said Neil Lalonde, who has worked at the store for five years.

The executive director of the Kensington BRZ (Business Revitalization Zone) pointed to a few variables, including high business taxes, changes in consumer shopping habits and a downturn in the Calgary economy as contributing factors in the increase in the number of vacant storefronts in the area.

"People are being more careful with their money, where in other years they may not have worried about," Annie MacInnis told CTV News.

MacInnis added that Kensington is still adding small businesses, as well as losing them.

According to MacInnis, three new businesses have opened in the last few months; she hopes more Calgarians will think about shopping local.

"If you spend one dollar in Kensington that generates six dollars for Calgary’s economy," she said.