Lovers of the world’s largest coffee chain might soon find their favorite local shop on the Chopping Block.
On July 13, video was captured during a Starbucks internal meeting posted on Twitter by Seattle radio host Ari Hoffman. In the clip, interim CEO Howard Schultz spoke about news of 16 Starbucks stores set to close due to safety concerns, first reported in The Wall Street Journal.
“We’re starting to close stores that aren’t unprofitable,” Howard Schultz said in the video, which has more than 310,000 views on Twitter.
“Starbucks is a window to America. We have businesses in every community and we face things that businesses weren’t built for,” Shultz said. “We’re listening to our people and we’re closing stores and that’s just the beginning. There will be many more.”
A Starbucks spokesperson confirmed to TODAY Food on July 13 that the coffee chain will close 16 of its stores through July 31, citing safety concerns reported by employees. Those concerns were reflected in an open letter written by Starbucks US senior vice presidents Debbie Stroud and Denise Nelson to employees concerned about their own safety at work.
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“You’re also seeing firsthand the challenges facing our communities — personal safety, racism, lack of access to health care, a growing mental health crisis, rising drug use and more,” the open letter reads on Starbucks’ website . “With stores in thousands of communities across the country, we know these challenges can sometimes arise in our stores as well. We read every incident report you submit – that’s a lot.”
According to the letter, Starbucks is also looking to improve safety at its stores by providing employees with de-escalation training, active shooter training, mental health training and more.
Schultz said Starbucks is closing the stores and possibly others in the future due to meetings with employees, whom Starbucks internally refers to as “retail partners.” He also said he’s heard from employees reporting the issues they’ve experienced in Starbucks bathrooms, as well as other issues related to mental illness, homelessness and crime that are occurring at various Starbucks locations across the country appear.
“In my view, these governments across the country and the leaders, mayors, governors and city councils at the local state and federal levels have relinquished their responsibilities to fight crime and fight mental health,” Schultz said in a second leaked video. He added that the company is trying to update the way stores are run to meet customers’ needs in an environment where he believes customer behavior is changing.
TODAY has reached out to Starbucks for comment, and a spokesman said there were no more closures to announce at this time.