Closures Thwart Man's Goal to Visit Every Starbucks

Starbucks' store closure program is giving the chain's biggest fan a bad case of the jitters, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 37-year-old, who calls himself "Winter," has visited more than 9,000 Starbucks stores in a quest that has lasted over a decade, but he now faces a "race against time" as hundreds of stores close on short notice.

"Pointless though it might it be, a goal is a goal," says Winter, whose quest has been the subject of a documentary. The coffee chase consumes around a quarter of his time and income. He spent $1,400 last month flying to a doomed Starbucks in northern British Colombia for a single coffee.  "If the store closed before I visited, I would lose another piece of my soul," Winter said. (More Starbucks stories.)