"Land of Extremes" Feels the Hurt

"'The Inland Empire is one of the most acute economic areas in terms of the downturn, specifically because of the foreclosures. Starbucks, like every other retailer, has been hurt from that,' Chief Executive Howard Schultz told Reuters in a recent interview.

When Starbucks announced last year that it was closing 600 U.S. stores, the Inland Empire was home to a quarter of the 88 California outlets on the hit list. And the final count could be even higher than that when Starbucks identifies an additional 200 U.S. cafes slated for closure."

"After growing at one of the fastest rates during the boom, the area that encompasses both Riverside and San Bernardino counties is in the grips of one of the nation's most severe reversals.

'You take a place like the Inland Empire and everything is just more extreme,' said Katie Schnidman, a real estate economist at Property & Portfolio Research Inc in Boston."