Starbucks sales tumble as customers reject high-priced coffee

A single-use cup made from 30% post-consumer recycled fiber sits at a Starbucks retail location, Wednesday, June 28, 2023, in Seattle. The company's goal is to cut waste, water use and carbon emissions in half by 2030.
A single-use cup made from 30% post-consumer recycled fiber sits at a Starbucks retail location, Wednesday, June 28, 2023, in Seattle. The company's goal is to cut waste, water use and carbon emissions in half by 2030. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

New York (CNN) — Consumers have reached their breaking point with $6 iced coffees and lemonades at Starbucks.

Starbucks sales dropped 3% globally at stores open for at least a year, including a 2% drop in its home North American market. And that masked how steep the decline was for Starbucks last quarter: Total transactions at North American stores open at least a year fell 6% in the quarter. That was offset, in part, by higher prices.

In other words: Fewer people are going to Starbucks and buying drinks and food. It was Starbucks’ second-straight quarter of sales declines.

Starbucks’ struggles reflect consumer fatigue with high prices at food chains, restaurants and stores. Consumers are showing their limits at Starbucks and other chains like McDonald’s. McDonald’s this week reported that sales at stores open at least a year fell 1% last quarter.

Shares of Starbucks (SBUX) rose more than 2% in afterhours trading.