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It's a scenario that's becoming more common these days, but another business has abruptly closed its doors in downtown Rochester.

It's a familiar scene here in Rochester, in other cities across Minnesota and across the country: a business abruptly closes its doors with little or no notice. And it just happened again, downtown in Minnesota's Med City.

The Starbucks across from Mayo Clinic's Gonda Building on 2nd Avenue Southwest (in the street level of the Kahler Grand Hotel) is now closed. And we don't know much more than that. My wife told me she first saw the sign on the door yesterday morning on her way to work.

CSJ/TSM-Rochester
CSJ/TSM-Rochester
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CSJ/TSM-Rochester
CSJ/TSM-Rochester
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"Starbuck's will be closed until further notice"   That's pretty much all the sign said. And as of 9 am on Friday (Oct 8th), that sign was still there, and inside Starbucks, the lights were off, the store was empty and the doors were locked. So, yeah, it's closed. But will it reopen?

I tried to do some digging around online but couldn't find any reference to this Starbucks location being closed-- or why. But if I had to guess, I'd say it has to do with a lack of employees. That's a HUGE problem for businesses not only here in Rochester and Minnesota, but across the country these days.

Earlier this fall, two popular Rochester restaurants closed permanently because they couldn't find enough staff to make things work to their level of satisfaction. And, in August, another Rochester coffee shop announced they were closing early due to a lack of staff.

Will this downtown Rochester Starbucks open again-- or is it permanently closed? We don't know right now, but we'll pass along more information as we get it. Meanwhile, sadly, businesses closing has been a phenomenon we're used to seeing, not just this year, but throughout much of 2020 as well. Keep scrolling to check out just some of the Rochester businesses that were forced to close their doors for good.

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KEEP READING: Rochester Businesses That Have Closed in 2020

When we all started our brand new 2020 year, the months ahead looked bright and promising. Unfortunately, 2020 was the year COVID-19 struck and has been a year of hardship and change for many, including the closures of beloved businesses in our Rochester community.
At times we would hear from business owners in a Facebook message that the sad decision was made to close their doors and other times, we found out that one of our favorite places was now closed by a note on the front door. No matter how the news came, my heart broke a little bit more for our community. Sadly, the list continues to grow but you can see the current list below.

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