Winnetka Caribou Will Become Peet's Coffee and Tea

The Caribou Coffee location in Winnetka will soon become a Peet's Coffee & Tea location, according to employees at the store. 

The 819 Elm St. location will remain open despite many other Caribou Coffee locations in Illinois closing. It will soon be known as Peet's Coffee and Tea.

According to employees at Caribou, all 80 locations in Illinois are closing, or transitioning under the Peet's name. 

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"Over the past few months, we at Caribou have revisited our business strategy, including closely evaluating our performance by market to make decisions that best position us for long-term growth," a spokesperson from Caribou Coffee said in a statement to Patch.  "With that, we will be closing 80 underperforming stores on April 14th, and an additional 88 coffeehouses across Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin will be converted to Peet’s Coffee & Tea locations over the next 12 to 18 months."

The spokesperson noted that 468 out of the 600 Caribou locations will remain open. 

"Going forward, Caribou Coffee will be made up of 468 locations across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Western Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, Denver, and ten international markets," the statement read. "While the decisions we’ve made have been difficult for our team in Minneapolis, as well as our team members across the country and our guests and fans everywhere, we are working to make this transition as seamless as possible for the Caribou community. We look forward to continuing to deliver extraordinary experiences to our guests and fans, and thank everyone for their passion and commitment to Caribou."

This change to the Minnesota-based Caribou Coffee comes only a few months after German conglomerate Joh. A. Benckiser Group bought both Peet's Coffee and Tea and Caribou Coffee, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. The Joh. A. Benckiser Group purchased Caribou Coffee in December for $340 million. It purchased Peet's Coffee and Tea in 2012 for $1 billion, the article states.

Forbes reported on the purchase in December, noting that a merger might make the most sense. 

"A merger could make geographic sense, as Caribou is mostly in the Midwest and East, while Peet’s is strongest in the West," the article stated. "To German bean-counters, it may simply not make sense in the long run to maintain two headquarters staffs and facilities for such similar businesses. A spinoff might also happen after such a merger/rebranding."

There are around 600 Caribou Coffee locations nation-wide.