Starbucks closes first large Gwangju store since 'Tank Day' boycott

Starbucks reclaimed the top spot among coffee brands by estimated credit and debit card spending five months after the so-called "Tank Day" controversy. After trailing Twosome Place for four months starting in May, Starbucks saw three consecutive months of steady growth following a low point in June, recovering to the 120 billion won range last month and retaking the No. 1 ranking. According to Mobile Index, a service run by AI tech firm IGAWorks, Starbucks' estimated credit and debit card spending last month reached 121.08 billion won, up 4.3 percent from the previous month's 116.12 billion won. Pictured is a Starbucks store in Seoul on Friday.

Starbucks Korea has closed a large store in Gwangju for the first time since the "Tank Day" boycott.

The Starbucks Gwangju Jisan Yuwonji Ipgu branch, located at the entrance to Mudeungsan National Park in Sansu-dong, Dong-gu, shut its doors Friday.

The store, a large two-story standalone building that opened in October 2017, drew regular customers from the surrounding neighborhood as well as visitors to Mudeungsan. It ended operations after nine years, with its last day of business on Thursday.

A Starbucks Korea official said the company had originally planned to close the store last year when the lease expired, but a short-term extension kept it open for one more year. "We opened a new store at Sangmu in Chipyeong-dong, Seo-gu, in Gwangju last month," the official said. "The closure of the Jisan Yuwonji Ipgu branch is not related to sales."

The boycott began after Starbucks Korea used the term "Tank Day" in a tumbler discount promotion on May 18 this year — the 46th anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising — in a reference widely seen as evoking the military crackdown of May 1980.

sij@heraldcorp.com