Last month, Starbucks announced it will be shutting 16 stores throughout the nation. This wasn’t due to a lack of revenue, but rather because these sites were close to the improper type of foot traffic.
The Complaints Are Stacking Up
Stroud and Nelson said, “We cannot function as colleagues if we do not first feel comfortable at work.”
“In the last year, we have observed a substantial spike in in-store events that do not respect the norms of the Starbucks Encounter for our associates or our customers,” a representative for the well-known coffee shop business told National Review.
After giving the matter serious thought, he said, “We are shutting some stores in areas where a large number of problematic occurrences make it hazardous to continue operating.”
In addition to the six in and around Seattle and Los Angeles, there are also one each in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., as well as two in Portland.
The Starbucks closing at Hollywood and Vine is some end of days shit pic.twitter.com/f8DkprGBTT
— RepeatRepeatRepeat (@The3Rrrs) August 2, 2022
Up until this April, Amelia Jones spent almost three years working at the East Olive Way Starbucks in Seattle, which is now shut down. She spoke with National Review about the situation.
Although Jones admitted “a significant number of houseless persons” lived in the area, she rejected the notion this posed a threat in and of itself, describing “most of them as extremely pleasant.”
Though there were exclusions. “We had a woman come in and really set fire to the women’s washroom between late winter 2019 or early 2020,” remembered Jones.
A coworker said, “Hey, is that restroom on fire?” after smelling smoke. As we open the front door, the women’s restroom appears to be engulfed in flames.
“There was a man who frequently entered the building and threatened individuals. He would either harass people and use racial slurs, or he would carry a weapon on him.”
“He literally carried a broomstick without a whisk portion. However, that can occur once every month.”
Reviewing the crime statistics for those cities demonstrates that Jones’s incident was not particular to her area in Seattle.
Dems Driving Business Out
According to data reported by the Los Angeles Police Department, 1,777 crimes were carried out between January 1 and July 20 of this year.
These crimes were committed within a 1,500-foot radius of the six going out of business, according to a National Review analysis of the data.
Some of the most egregious examples include vehicle break-ins, assaults, burglaries, vehicle thefts, robberies, larceny, arson, and homicides.
An analysis of LAPD data found that, earlier this year, 1,777 crimes were committed within 1,500 feet of the six Starbucks stores that are closing in Los Angeles. | by @isaac_schorr https://t.co/nYkAWLPlFI
— National Review (@NRO) August 8, 2022
Compared to the previous year and the year 2020, violent crime has increased in the city by 5.8% and 13.6%, correspondingly, while petty crime has increased by 12.9% and 8.4%.
Employee experiences in the area of the two closed businesses in Portland have been equally miserable.
The two areas where the two shuttered businesses were located had a surge of violence from mid-December 2021 to mid-May 2022.
This article appeared in Powerhouse News and has been published here with permission.
