"The staff at Sacramento’s Land Park Starbucks were told their shop was “going dark” on August 25 and just one day later, the store permanently closed and the staff offered roles at other Sacramento locations. The Sacramento Bee reports the 1429 Broadway location was deemed a “problematic location” by the company and quickly shuttered, just one of 20 locations anywhere, and the first in Northern California, to ever opt for such an extreme out. Company spokesman Sam Jefferies told the Bee the shop is in a shopping outlet that requires “numerous calls for police” — records show 40 incidents between October 20, 2020 and July 25, 2022 for reasons including aggravated assault, shoplifting, battery, and vandalism. One community group, the Land Park Community Association, blames an “open air drug market” nearby for the problems. However, a Starbucks barista at the location who chose to remain anonymous (the multinational is not keen on employees talking to the media) alleges the closure was due to an increasing homeless population and that they had not witnessed or heard of any recent incidents. “The idea was to close the store before an incident happened,” the barista told the Bee." - Paolo Bicchieri
