Petition Drive Aims to Keep Starbucks in Exeter

The Exeter Starbucks is set to close on Sept. 6, but it's possible another one could still open in town.

The current Starbucks is located inside Stop & Shop, which announced last week it will close all six of its New Hampshire locations. In a statement, Starbucks confirmed that its Exeter store–the only one in town–would be closing as well, and said it has no plans to open another store here anytime soon.

But a petition has now been set up on a table next to the Exeter Starbucks, asking residents to sign it to help bring another Starbucks to town. As of Sunday night, more than 100 people had already signed it.

A Starbucks employee said that Sunday the Stop & Shop store is still closing, but the Boston regional manager told the local store's manager that if there are enough signatures, she will push company executives to open another store in town.

As for Stop & Shop, no official closing date has been set, but as of Sunday night the store shelves were almost bare–except for a lot of candy–so it could close down any day now.