Santa Monica %26 Westmount, West Hollywood, California Western Hollywood %26, Los Angeles, California. Starbucks has announced that it will close 16 different United States, S. Starbucks cited that the company is concerned about the safety of its employees, explaining that they have been affected by the disruptive behavior of members of the public in certain places, according to The Wall Street Journal. All of these stores will formally close at the end of July.
The coffee giant listed the personal safety of its employees as the main reason for this measure. Debbie Stroud and Denise Nelson, senior vice presidents of Starbucks, wrote a letter stating that employees are affected by social problems, including drug use and mental health problems. In the letter, they stated that employees are seeing firsthand the challenges facing the personal safety of our communities, racism, lack of access to health care, the growing mental health crisis, increased drug use and more. With stores in thousands of communities across the country, we know that these challenges can sometimes manifest themselves within our stores as well.
Stroud and Nelson added that we want them to know that creating a safe, welcoming and friendly third place is our top priority. Because, in a nutshell, we can't serve as partners if we don't feel safe at work. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, wrote in an announcement how the move is part of the reinvention of Starbucks and that the company focuses on safety, welcome and friendliness for our stores. Starbucks has faced reaction from some employees to this move, as they were allegedly not consulted about the closure of these stores.
Mari Cosgrove, an employee at one of the Seattle stores that is closing, told USA Today that employees think it's not fair that we weren't allowed to be part of this decision about our working conditions, or that Starbucks says they couldn't provide a safe experience for our workplace. Six Starbucks stores in Los Angeles are among 16 to close across the country due to repeated security issues, the coffee giant said Tuesday. Locations, six of them in Los Angeles County, in late July due to an increase in crime and drug use among customers and non-paying customers, which has made employees feel uncomfortable. This week, six Starbucks locations in Los Angeles will close for good, due to what the company calls “a high volume of challenging incidents.
