NASHUA – Starbucks has closed one of its four coffee shops in the city.

The cafe at Daniel Webster Highway shut its doors April 25 after nearly a decade serving java, lattes and scones. Hand-written signs taped to the glass door and windows suggest customers seek two other Starbucks locations in the city and apologize for any inconvenience to those craving a quick cup of joe.

Starbucks Corp.’s public relations department didn’t return messages seeking comment on why the shop closed. Before it shuttered, employees had deferred comment to corporate officials.

The other shops in Nashua are on polar ends of the city map: a small location inside Pheasant Lane Mall, and, on the other side of Nashua River, a large shop with drive-thru service on Broad Street and a small cafe on Amherst Street.

Barnes & Noble bookstore on Daniel Webster Highway has an agreement to sell Starbucks products but does not have an official Starbucks cafe.

The Seattle chain made news in 2008 when, as the recession started in earnest, it closed 600 stores. Financial analysts attributed the mass closures to bad financial times and poor real estate decisions – essentially overexpansion – by the company.

Only one Starbucks cafe in New Hampshire shut down as a result of that mass closing: a shop in Rochester.

The Starbucks cafe at 274 Daniel Webster Highway opened in Webster Square shopping plaza nearly 10 years ago, on April 28, 2000. It replaced a Bagel Alley location.

At the time of the cafe’s opening, Starbucks officials said they had hoped to capitalize on the busy Daniel Webster Highway retail corridor. The store served the typical array of Starbucks products: coffee and cappuccino, pastries, and music.

Starbucks Corp. has recently seen fiscal improvement as the country slips out of the recession and consumers are perhaps now more likely to buy a hot or cold drink that would cost less at the chain’s main competitors, Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s.

The chain said customer visits to U.S. stores increased during the March quarter, the first quarterly rise in more than three years, according to ABC News.

Starbucks has also recently said it will modestly increase its capital expenditures, although Dow Jones Newswire notes that spending will stay well below peaks of more than $1 billion several years ago.

Albert McKeon can be reached at 594-5832 or amckeon@nashuatelegraph.com