Starbucks Corp. announced on Monday that more than a dozen stores will be closed across the nation over employee-safety concerns related to drug use, theft, and assault.
Coffeehouses that will be permanently closed include five stores in Seattle, Washington, that have reported high rates of crime, a spokesperson for the coffee giant told The Seattle Times, the first to report the plan.
The locations where the company is closing stores in the largest city of the Pacific Northwest state are Capitol Hill, Central District, the Roosevelt neighborhood, as well as at Union Station and Westlake Center.
Other cities where coffeehouses will close include Los Angeles, Portland, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. In total, 16 U.S. stores will shut doors, and all of the closures are based on a rise in crime-related complaints….