Just days after Costa Coffee announced it was to be bought by Coca-Cola, UK cafe chain Costa Coffee has confirmed it is exiting Singapore.

During the last 13 weeks Costa Coffee Singapore has closed six stores in the city and its two remaining outlets will close imminently: Holland Village today (September 7) and VivoCity on Sunday week.

Costa Coffee launched in Singapore in 2012, and has a presence in other Asian markets including Cambodia and Vietnam (where it has one store at Danang Airport).

A spokesman for Costa Coffee Singapore told Today: “We are committed to remaining within the South-east Asia region and have ambitious plans to grow the Costa brand.” He said the decision to exit Singapore was made early this year.

An unnamed employee of Costa Coffee Singapore told Today that high rents were behind the decision to close the stores,

However, Esther Ho, director of the School of Business Management at Nanyang Polytechnic, said international coffee chains were struggling in Singapore because they were not focused enough on “experiences” that helped to justify premium prices.

Inside Retail Asia