Caribou Coffee has announced its pull out of the state of Illinois in order to concentrate more in its home state of Minnesota.

Caribou Coffee is reportedly planning to close down or convert some of its stores, which includes 200 franchisees. A report in the Business Journal indicated that Caribou Coffee might be planning to close down its stores in Ohio, Chicago and some other places.

Minneapolis-based Caribou was made private in the year following a $340 million deal with Joh. A. Benckiser. The company announced it will close 80 locations nationwide Sunday and convert 88 others into Peet's Coffee & Tea during the coming 12 to 18 months. The Germany based investor firm had acquired Peet's in a deal valued at $974 million in the previous year.

Caribou has not announced the list of stores that will be closed or converted but it is believed that most of the Chicago Caribou locations will be converted to Peet's stores by 2015. The company's Long Grove, Lake Forest, Northbrook and Winnetka locations are also expected to be converted to Peet's but it is not known if the staff members will retain their jobs at the stores. Meanwhile, stores at Arlington Heights, Glenview, Rolling Meadows, Vernon Hills, Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg are set to close down on Sunday.

"Over the past few months, we at Caribou have revisited our business strategy, including closely evaluating our performance by market to make decisions that best position us for long-term growth," Caribou President Mike Tattersfield said in a statement.