Rockland Centre Starbucks stays closed despite court order to re-open

A Starbucks in Rockland Centre that closed before the end of its lease is defying a Quebec court order requiring the coffee shop to stay open.

The company that owns Rockland Centre, Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust, took Starbucks to Quebec Superior Court after noticing in early April that the store was closed during the Town of Mount Royal mall’s opening hours — a violation of the coffee shop’s lease, which requires it to continue operating until January 2028.

The closure drew concern from mall management after they discovered the Starbucks location, which they believed would attract people to the mall, was instead encouraging customers to go elsewhere, with a sign posted outside the shuttered store inviting customers to visit “a nearby Starbucks,” according to an April 16 court ruling.

The ruling by Justice Mathieu Piché-Messier ordered the coffee shop to stay open for 10 days ahead of further legal proceedings, when Cominar will ask for a court order that would force the coffee shop to remain open until the end of its lease. 

In his decision, Piché-Messier found that the closure could cause “irreparable harm” to the shopping centre, impacting foot traffic, neighbouring businesses, and clientele. He accepted Cominar’s arguments that the closure poses a greater disadvantage to the mall than what Starbucks would face if forced to stay open, given the company is projected to generate net revenues exceeding USD $27.5 billion in North America by 2025.

“This is all the more true given that Starbucks is a highly reputable retailer and a major global player in the coffee trade,” the decision states, noting that Starbucks is an “anchor tenant” for the mall. 

“The more vacant premises there are, the greater the impact,”  Piché-Messier added.

But despite the ruling, on Thursday evening — one week after the judge ordered the store to reopen —the Rockland Centre Starbucks was shuttered during the mall’s opening hours. Its store entrance was blocked off by a gate, with chairs stacked upside down on tables. When dialling the phone number associated with the Rockland Starbucks branch, a “not in service” message plays.

Asked about the Thursday closure, Starbucks representatives declined to comment “due to pending litigation,” spokesperson Shannon Zednicek wrote in an email. 

The closure comes as the coffee giant struggles across Canada, shuttering hundreds of its North America locations last year. According to reporting from Bloomberg, the company is also struggling to convince employees at its Seattle headquarters to take a five per cent pay cut and move to its new $100 million Nashville hub, on the promise of a reduced cost of living.

According to the April 16 ruling regarding the Rockland Centre location, a broker working for Starbucks told Cominar that the coffee company wanted to terminate its lease early, on March 31, 2026. But Cominar did not accept the request.

Cominar then sent a lawyer’s letter to Starbucks, asking them to reopen and threatening legal action if they did not.

Upon receiving the demand letter, Starbucks’ representative “merely replied tersely by email that he would take care of it and forward it to the parent company,” the ruling reads.

According to the ruling, Starbucks was not represented at a recent court hearing and has not submitted any arguments or pleadings in its defence.

As a result, Piché-Messier only granted Cominar a 10-day order, instead of the 45-day order they had requested, to give Starbucks another chance to respond.

Cominar is also seeking a more permanent court order that would be in place until January 2028.

Attorneys representing Cominar also declined to comment on the ruling.

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