After Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks is the second most popular coffee chain operating in New Jersey, but this week, the company’s CEO warned of more closures in crime-infected areas of the country under the leadership of soft on crime Democrats.
Some areas in New Jersey could be next as crime and shootings increase in urban areas statewide.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said that the closing of 16 stores in unsafe locations is just the beginning and said more closures are coming as violence spirals out of control in Democrat-run cities across America.
The company announced the closure of six stores in its hometown of Seattle, six in Los Angeles, two in Portland, one in Philadelphia, and one in Washington, D.C. The measure comes as part of the company’s large plan to make Starbucks locations nationwide safer.
“We’re closing stores, not because they’re unprofitable,” Schultz said. “In all of those, it has shocked me that one of the primary concerns our retail partners have is their own personal safety.”
Schultz said the company is a window into America, and it’s now facing something the company was not built for.
“In my view, at the local, state, and federal level, these governments across the country and leaders, mayors, governors, and city councils have abducted their responsibility in fighting crime and addressing mental illness,” he said. “We are going to have to refine many of the things we do in an operating environment where customer behavior is changing.”
Another location was shut down this week in San Antonio, Texas.
Starbucks operates about 300 stores in New Jersey. So far none have been identified as possible future closures.