Starbucks Store Closures Get Shrug With Investors Wanting More

Starbucks Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol has spent a lot of his first year making cosmetic changes — including bringing back ceramic mugs — in a bid to revive the world’s largest coffee chain.

But now Niccol is onto the meatier part of right-sizing the company. On Thursday, Starbucks said it will close 1% of its stores in the US and Canada while cutting 900 jobs.

Investors largely shrugged at the announcement. Wall Street might have wanted deeper cuts for a company with 360,000 employees as of last year and 41,000 locations globally.

The turnaround “still has a long ...