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Starbucks will shut 16 U.S. shops, totally on the West Coast, by the tip of July due to security considerations, in response to the corporate. A lot of the shops set to shut are within the Los Angeles and Seattle metro areas.
“We have needed to make the tough choice to shut some places which have a very excessive quantity of difficult incidents that make it unsafe for us to function,” a Starbucks spokesperson informed CNBC.
The map under exhibits the six shops in California and the six in Washington State that may shut. The espresso chain may even shut two shops in Portland, Oregon, one retailer in Philadelphia and one other in Washington, D.C., additionally for security.
‘We can not function companions if we do not first really feel secure at work’
Concern about retailer security was central to a letter to workers printed on Monday from Debbie Stroud and Denise Nelson, two senior vice presidents of U.S. operations on the espresso chain. The letter cites a number of societal security considerations, together with elevated violence and drug use within the space of the shops.
“We all know these challenges can, at occasions, play out inside our shops too. We learn each incident report you file — it is rather a lot,” the letter mentioned. “Merely put, we can not function companions if we do not first really feel secure at work.”
The closures come at a singular time for Starbucks as extra shops vote to unionize: over 100 of the corporate’s 9,000 U.S. shops since employees at a retailer in Buffalo, New York, grew to become the primary to affix a union on the finish of 2021.
One of many 16 shops being shuttered, 505 Union Station in Seattle, had additionally voted to affix Starbucks Staff United — a undeniable fact that the union tweeted about after the announcement.
Property crimes up throughout Seattle and Los Angeles
Starbucks’ letter to workers about security didn’t point out unions, and centered solely on security considerations. Starbucks officers have mentioned, nonetheless, that the closures are about issues of security .
And crime knowledge from Seattle and Los Angeles appears to the again up these considerations. In Seattle, property crimes, which embrace automotive theft, larceny theft and housebreaking, and violent robberies are up practically 20% for the primary 5 months 2022 from the year-earlier interval, in response to the Seattle Police Division.
In Los Angeles, these varieties of crimes are up citywide greater than 14% for the primary six months of 2022 in comparison with the identical interval final yr, in response to the Los Angeles Police Division.
In West Hollywood, nonetheless, these figures are a lot greater: Property crimes and violent robberies have greater than doubled in 2022 from 2021, in response to the LA County Sheriff.
Learn the complete listing of shops that Starbucks will shut under:
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