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Jamba Juice Shutters 2 Locations in Village and SoHo

By Danielle Tcholakian | February 25, 2015 4:21pm | Updated on February 27, 2015 8:06pm
 The Jamba Juice at 125 University Place is closed.
The Jamba Juice at 125 University Place is closed.
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DNAinfo/Danielle Tcholakian

GREENWICH VILLAGE — Jamba Juice is getting squeezed out.

The juice and smoothie chain recently shut down two of its locations: 125 University Place in Greenwich Village and 25 W. Houston St. in SoHo.

A sign in the papered-over windows of the University Place spot directs customers to the nearest Jamba Juice location at 32nd Street and Fifth Avenue.

A spokeswoman for the company did not immediately provide information on why and exactly when both stores closed.

A Wall Street Journal report last year indicated investors were pressuring the smoothie giant to sell off its stores and switch to a franchise model, highlighting New York in particular as an excessively expensive market.

Jamba Juice executives subsequently agreed to sell off 80 percent of the corporation's 272 company-owned stores and switch to a franchise-based business model, according to a report last month in the financial news outlet The Street.

There are still 12 Jamba Juice locations in New York City, according to the smoothie chain's website, including stores at JFK Airport, Penn Station, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

The Journal's report said bad weather, high rent and labor costs were to blame for low profit margins at the juice slinger's company-owned locations in the Big Apple.