Article

2022-07-19 Economy

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz blames Dem-run cities for store closures

[NYPOST] Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said Democratic mayors and city councils have "abdicated their responsibility" in fighting crime and addressing mental illness, which has forced his company to shutter stores due to fears over employee safety.

Schultz made the comments in leaked video that was posted to Twitter over the weekend by Ari Hoffman of KVI-AM talk radio based in Seattle.

Last week, Starbucks announced it was closing 16 restaurants in various cities across the country due to what the company said was employee complaints of drug use and ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful crime on the premises.

Schultz said he believes the Seattle-based coffee chain will have to close "many more" locations.

"This is just the beginning," said the interim chief executive, who came back to run the company earlier this year following the retirement of his predecessor, Kevin Johnson.

"There are gonna be many more [store closures]."

The leaked video of Schultz shows him addressing Starbucks employees. He told them that the company was "beginning to close stores that are not unprofitable."

Schultz said he was "shocked" to hear from employees that "one of the primary concerns that our retail partners [baristas] have is their own personal safety."

"And then we heard about the stories that go along with it about what happens in our bathrooms," Schultz said.

In 2018, Starbucks implemented an "open bathrooms" policy after a store manager had two black men arrested for not ordering coffee while sitting down in a Philadelphia location.

Video of the arrest went viral, and Starbucks apologized following intense backlash.

Now the company is giving store managers discretion to alter the policy due to complaints that Starbucks bathrooms are a magnet for drug abusers and homeless people.

In the video leaked over the weekend, Schultz cited the "issues of mental illness, homelessness, and crime."

"Starbucks is a window into America," Schultz said. "We are facing things in which the stores were not built for."

Schultz then took Democrat-run cities to task for not providing solutions.

"In my view, at the local, state, and federal level, these governments across the country and leaders — mayors, governors, and city councils — have abdicated their responsibility in fighting crime and addressing mental illness," he said.

Schultz added: "We are going to have to refine and transform and modernize many of the things we do to meet the needs of our customers in a very changing operating environment in which customer behavior is changing."

Posted by Fred 2022-07-19 00:00|| || Front Page|| [16 views ] Top
File under: Mob Rule

#1 Maybe he should add breakfast tacos to the menu.

Posted by Black Charlie Slairt1430 2022-07-19 01:59|| 2022-07-19 01:59|| Front Page Top

#2 “If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.”

Posted by Procopius2k 2022-07-19 08:34|| 2022-07-19 08:34|| Front Page Top

#3 You not only voted for them, Howard, you contributed cash to their election.

Posted by Bobby 2022-07-19 09:11|| 2022-07-19 09:11|| Front Page Top

#4 ^ Which points up the crux of the matter. Leftists do not think through their actions or desires. They begin with the premise they are correct and when negative results ensue, they are unwilling to reflect on how their initial premise was wrong.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-07-19 09:18|| 2022-07-19 09:18|| Front Page Top

Posted by Besoeker 2022-07-19 09:32|| 2022-07-19 09:32|| Front Page Top

#6 The blind pig eats the acorn. The leftist stumbles, catches his stride and presses on towards catastrophe.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-07-19 09:37|| 2022-07-19 09:37|| Front Page Top

#7 Arrests in Chicago plummet to historic lows as crime rises and police admittedly pull back: 'No way'

Skyrocketing Chicago crime has small businesses, corporations pack their bags: 'Enough is enough'

Posted by Skidmark 2022-07-19 09:55|| 2022-07-19 09:55|| Front Page Top

#8 Crime and inflation deal devastating one-two blow to inner city communities

Salt Lake City businesses fed up with city's 'hands-off' approach as crime, homelessness worsen

Posted by Skidmark 2022-07-19 09:58|| 2022-07-19 09:58|| Front Page Top

#9 Its the culture which allowed it, Schultz, with Starbucks as a masthead.

Posted by swksvolFF 2022-07-19 10:17|| 2022-07-19 10:17|| Front Page Top

#10 Sacramento's homeless population soars by 67% in three years and is now HIGHER than San Francisco while robbery rockets 42% and rapes nearly double amid drug taking epidemic

Posted by Skidmark 2022-07-19 10:26|| 2022-07-19 10:26|| Front Page Top

#11 ^ State capitals always have lots of homeless and leftist NGO grifters. My theory is it's about being as close as possible to the ~~source of the welfare money~~ gummint teat.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-07-19 10:33|| 2022-07-19 10:33|| Front Page Top

#12 Harvard "educated" for sure.

Posted by Black Charlie Slairt1430 2022-07-19 13:53|| 2022-07-19 13:53|| Front Page Top

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