SEATTLE – Tahlequah’s Starbucks will be one of the 15 company-owned, under-performing stores to close in Oklahoma.

The announcement came Thursday through a list published on the company’s Web site. Starbucks announced earlier this month it would be closing approximately 600 stores nationwide beginning in July, and lasting through March 2009.

Along with Tahlequah’s gourmet coffee house, at 1702 S. Muskogee Ave., Starbucks also plans to close locations in Muskogee, Claremore, McAlester, Tulsa, Lawton, Edmond and Del City, and four in Oklahoma City. Eight stores in Arkansas will be closed, including two in Rogers and one in Van Buren.

The Daily Press was told earlier this week that local employees had been notified of the looming closure, but a manager Wednesday said employees were not allowed to discuss whether the rumor was true. The Tahlequah store did not appear on the preliminary list.

The Web site release states Starbucks’ employees have been “personally notified that their store has been slated to close during this timeframe.”

“Store partners will receive advance notice and more details from their leadership team once a specific closure date has been confirmed,” the Web site states.

The determination of a store’s closing date will depend on several operational and contractual factors and events. Officials say the Web site will be updated as dates are communicated to affected employees.

Officials with the company say “much thought and consideration” was given in deciding which locations will close. Earlier this month, a spokeswoman for the company said about 70 percent of the stores set to close had opened since fiscal year 2006. Tahlequah’s Starbucks opened in January 2007.

The company also said it will help move current employees affected by the closures into available positions at nearby stores, but with the Muskogee’s Starbucks closing, a map on the Starbucks Web site shows Tulsa or Fayetteville, Ark., as homes to the nearest locations. The site shows more than 75 Starbucks locations in Oklahoma, with about 30 each in the Tulsa and Oklahoma City areas.

Starbucks says its list of closures could change, depending on factors such as risks related to finalization of third-party agreements, expected cost savings, income tax and other benefits associated with the closures in the anticipated time frame.

Muskogee’s Starbucks is at 591 W. Shawnee. The Claremore store is at 1100 S. Lynn Riggs Blvd.