Starbucks Malaysia denies closing more than 100 outlets, says not on BDS list

Starbucks Malaysia has dismissed as "false" a report that the US coffee company had to cease operations at more than 100 outlets nationwide due to the impact of a boycott of global American brands in response to Washington's support for Israel.

"The claim that more than 100 Starbucks outlets in Malaysia have been shut down is false. While we have ceased operations at only a few stores, most of the allegedly closed locations are only temporarily closed," a Starbucks Malaysia representative told Business Times.

MalaysiaNow today quoted a source as saying that Starbucks, which is linked to tycoon Vincent Tan's Berjaya Group, has had to close or temporarily shut down over 100 outlets across the country, including in major shopping centres and tourist spots.

While the company has not responded to queries from MalaysiaNow at press time, a check on Starbucks Malaysia's website revealed that at least 60 outlets are labelled as either closed or temporarily closed.

However, the Business Times report quotes Starbucks Malaysia as saying that the company is seeing a "positive improvement" in sales and that customers are "starting to realise that the allegations against the brand are not true".

It went on to say that Starbucks has never been a target of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), the global movement that has successfully mobilised consumers around the world to boycott American and Western interests to protest their support of the Israeli war machine.

Starbucks and other major Western fast food companies such as McDonald's and consumer brands such as Nestle are among companies most affected by the campaign, despite creative attempts by their owners in Muslim countries to distance themselves from Washington's policies in the Middle East, where more than 50,000 civilians in Gaza and Lebanon have died as a result of Israel's massive bombardment since October last year.

Starbucks Malaysia, which has more than 400 outlets and 5,000 employees nationwide, is owned by Berjaya Food, part of Berjaya Corporation, the conglomerate linked to prominent billionaire Vincent Tan.

The company also owns the 7-Eleven retail chain, whose chairman is Farhash Wafa Salvador, the former political secretary to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

In March, Tan called on Malaysians to end the boycott, repeating the familiar excuse of local ownership and employment of locals, none of which have been able to stem the anti-Israel boycott movement.

The following month, DAP leader and federal minister Nga Kor Ming accused those behind the boycott as "instigators" out to ruin domestic economy.

"Never fall into the trap of instigators, our country needs the efforts of all parties to develop the economy," said Nga, who only last year officiated the opening of a new Starbucks outlet in his ministry in Putrajaya.