A Starbucks in San Jose is one of the 250 stores expected to close in North America. The Starbucks at 1205 The Alameda in San Jose is expected to close on Saturday. Jennifer Martinez and Rebecca Schroeder took their coffee break and made their usual trip to the shop, knowing it would be the last time. “It was very abrupt. We didn’t even know until a coworker came and told us just right now, so we came over to say goodbye to the folks who work here, because they’ve been so great every morning,” Schroeder said. “I understand, I think, from a business perspective that they probably did it because they didn’t want everyone quitting or bailing, but the ‘human’ side of it is really… it’s harsh,” Martinez said. San Jose State University economist Robert Chapman Wood says that bond with customers was somewhat lost when Starbucks founder Howard Schultz retired.  It is a bit of business magic that’s hard to duplicate.   “The whole thing about creating a relationship between thousands of people in hundreds of thousands of people in tens of thousands of stores and the customers who walk in, that’s not something that any professor can tell you how to do,” Wood said. Starbucks says it plans to revamp many stores to offer a more inviting, traditional coffeehouse feel. “It definitely depends for Starbucks on creating that atmosphere people will choose to go to, as opposed to just producing coffee, because other places produce coffee for less money than Starbucks,” Wood said. But for those used to this neighborhood Starbucks, what can’t be recreated is convenience, even though the next closest Starbucks is only 0.7 miles away.  There are still about 18,000 Starbucks stores in North America. The Bay Area Starbucks expected to close, according to the Business Times, include: 3547 Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette 1663 N. California Blvd. in Walnut Creek 176 Gateway Blvd. in South San Francisco 138 Calistoga Rd. in Santa Rosa 2240 Mendocino Ave. in Santa Rosa 1187 San Carlos Ave. in San Carlos 119 N. Rollins Rd. in Millbrae 1135 Industrial Rd. in San Carlos 1037 El Monte Ave. in Mountain View 1205 The Alameda in San Jose 3700 San Pablo Ave. in Hercules 1701 Willow Pass Rd. in Concord 795 First St. in Gilroy The list could change or expand as Starbucks updates its store listings. ...read more read less