Meet the New Coffee Chain Taking Over Shuttered Starbucks Locations

Starbucks might be in trouble, guys. The ubiquitous coffee chain is definitely not going anywhere soon, but over the last couple of years, people have started to look elsewhere for their caffeine fix. Through 2024 and 2025, it lost 4% of its market share to other coffee chains, and this was coupled with the rise of a lot of new names that could unseat the Seattle-based giant. 

Videos by Sporked

One of them, though, isn’t that well-known to customers in the U.S.—but that may well change pretty darn soon. Luckin Coffee, a Chinese coffee chain that’s only been operating for a few years, is making some strategic moves to position itself as the new Starbies by buying up its old units. Here’s what you need to know.

Good Luck(in), Starbucks

Luckin Coffee was born in 2017 in Beijing, and to say its expansion was quick would be an understatement. From 2018 to 2019, it was opening an average of five stores per day, and in just two years, it had more stores in China than Starbucks (which had about a 45-year headstart on Luckin, just FYI). It’s been wildly successful in Asian markets, but until now, it’s not made a dent in the U.S. 

However, last year, it started to make a mark in New York City, opening multiple stores throughout 2025, which happened to coincide with the closure of dozens of Starbucks stores across town. Word on the street was that Luckin was eyeing these units as potential locations for business, and just a couple of days ago, Business Bulls reported that Luckin was quietly snapping these locations up. It’s targeting key locations like Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side, where it’s likely to start pumping out its reasonably priced cups of Joe to the masses very soon. And we all know how much people love trying out a new place. 

Luckin Coffee’s Already Got Fans in the U.S.

Although Luckin hasn’t been open very long in New York, it’s built enough of a name for itself to get people excited about these new unit takeovers. Comments on Business Bulls’ Instagram seemed to show that people might, just might, be ready for a new coffee house. “I find Luckin to be cheaper and the portions are better,” said one person, whose comment got well over 100 likes. “This was the best coffee I had. Their coconut latte is like heavenly,” stated another. (Coconut latte? We’re sold.)

With all that in mind, Starbucks isn’t exactly going to fall off the radar overnight. I mean, come on: The chain has over 41,000 locations worldwide, and it’s constantly changing up its offer, recently announcing its new February menu. But with the recent announcement that it was shuttering hundreds of restaurants over the coming year, it might just be leaving space for another company to take over.