On September 27th, two local Starbucks locations in Danville shuttered their doors for the last time, closing the iconic Corner on Hartz Avenue and Crow Canyon locations forever. As part of a nationwide 400-store closure by Starbucks Inc., this has led to infuriation and frustration within the Danville Community.
The most upsetting factor for most Danville residents is simply the convenience of the two locations. Crow Canyon is located in the center of the Camino Tassajara shopping center, and Hartz Ave. is the heart of Downtown and often a meeting space used for social gatherings. Not only is coffee being lost, but so are memories.
Monte Vista Junior and avid Starbucks drinker, Juliette Leonard, said she visited the Crow Canyon location “probably three times a week”, but now has to go all the way to Blackhawk Plaza.
The 400-store closure nationwide is part of Starbucks Inc.’s ongoing major reconstruction, which unfortunately involves the closure of stores that haven’t been as profitable as others nearby or have suffered other extenuating factors. Considering Danville’s presence of Starbucks has been at no lack, including 4 locations, as well as those inside Safeway, and nearby towns, it does not come as a surprise that some would be shutting down. On a national scale, while Starbucks has not released a formal list of specific location closures, unofficial lists have been circulating online, including one shared by USA Today and other national news sources. The “Store Locator” function on the company’s website also shows certain shops as closed every day after September 27th.
Prior to the shutdown, Starbucks had around 600 Unionized stores. A month ago, Starbucks Workers United reported that 59 unionized locations were on the list for closure. While unionized stores only make up a near 15% of closing locations, this cut proactively abrogates 10% of all unionized locations across the country, according to information from fastcompany.com. It would be suspicious not to raise an eyebrow at this potential targeting of workers’ unions, especially considering former CEO Howard Schulz’s long history of actions opposing the Starbucks Workers Union.
The Stampede was fortunate enough to hear from an employee who requested to have their identity hidden. This student stated that all Starbucks employees were informed of the store’s closing 2 weeks before the public announcement. Although the affected employees were aware of the situation, they were kept in the dark about their future with the company until the day of the closing.
“We often had 50 food items in the queue. We were 30 minutes behind on everything… and we’re always short-staffed. It was crazy. We felt like there should be more employees at our store… so that we weren’t always overwhelmed.” With worsening peaks, it seems these employees are fighting an uphill battle, hence the shutdown?
