Land Park Starbucks first in NorCal to close over neighborhood safety concerns

A Starbucks at 15th and Broadway in Sacramento’s Land Park area has been closed by the coffee chain because of neighborhood safety concerns, a first for the company in the northern half of California.

Company management empowered local managers last month to take action to make stores safer —including shutting down problematic locations as a last extreme — company spokesman Sam Jefferies said.

The store at 1429 Broadway closed Thursday night at 6 p.m., just one day after staff at an emergency meeting were told that the location “was going dark.”

The store is next to a homeless encampment and what neighbors say is an open-air drug market, and sits in a shopping center where there are numerous calls for police.

Starbucks says it closes its stores for safety issues when there is no other alternatives, making the Sacramento location one of less than 20 in the US, of around 9,000 company locations, deemed too dangerous to stay open.

“Our stores are windows into America and every day our partners witness the challenges facing our communities – challenges to personal safety and security, racism, a growing mental health crisis, and issues magnified by COVID,” Jefferies said in a statement to The Bee .”These challenges play out within our stores — affecting our partners, our communities and our customers alike.”

The store was already deemed a high-incident store by Starbucks and was operating using enhanced safety measures. Starbucks had removed seating from the store and closed its bathrooms to the public even as it reopened other Sacramento area stores in the spring of 2021. The location did not have a drive-through window..

Other closures nationwide

In mid-July, Starbucks announced it was closing 16 stores at the end of the month because of safety issues including six in greater Los Angeles; six in greater Seattle; two in Portland, Oregon; one in Philadelphia and one Washington, D.C.

The Sacramento store was not included in the total. A store in Kansas City, Mo. was also closed on August 24 because of what Starbucks officials say are safety concerns. Baristas at the location say the store was closed because workers were trying to organize a union.

Back in July, top Starbucks employees said in a letter to employees that modifications to store layouts, hours, bathroom occupancy sensors and other modifications would be made when necessary to ensure safety.

The letter said “closing a store permanently,” could also occur, when safety “is no longer possible.”

Jefferies offered no specifics on incidents at the store..

A trouble spot for police

Police records show 40 incidents between Oct. 20, 2020 and July 25, 2022 in the area of the Starbucks, including aggravated assault, shoplifting, battery, and vandalism.

The reports do not break down whether the incidents occurred at the Starbucks or in the shopping center that houses it.

A Starbucks barista at the Broadway store, who did not give his name. because he is not authorized by the company to speak to the media, said there were no recent safety incidents. He said the concern was about the large number of homeless by the store..

“The idea was to close the store before an incident happened,” he said. “The problem is not getting any better.”

A Jamba Juice next to the Starbucks had closed last month.

Did Caltrans exacerbate problem?

Back on July 24, Caltrans, with the California Highway Patrol as backup, removed people from the encampment, just a block from the Starbucks at the 15th Street ramp of Eastbound Highway 50.

Caltrans media manager Will Arnold said at the time that people living there would be given “safer options” than living under the highway.

The next day, dozens of homeless moved across the street from the highway and on local side streets, by the Starbucks, in new encampments.

Arnold did not respond to email and phone requests for comment.

“Caltrans was the entity that decided to move the campers on the 15th Street exit, pushing them to surround the blocks where these businesses were trying to operate,” said Sacramento Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela, who represents the Land Park area.

The homeless had lived under the highway for several years before Caltrans took action.

Valenzuela also blamed Sacramento County, which is the official social services agency for the the city, for not providing needed services such as housing for the homeless.

Sacramento County spokeswoman Kimberly Nara said the county has been increasing its co-response with the city to encampments over the past several months.

“While this specific encampment is not one our teams were asked to respond to, we are looking forward to an expanded partnership with the city in the near future as protocols are further developed,” she said.

City of Sacramento spokesman Gregg Fishman said the city cannot move the homeless from public property per court rulings unless there are viable housing alternatives.

“Our current resources are typically full,’” he said.

Bidding a sad farewell

One local group, The Land Park Community Association said it is upset with Starbuck’s closing.

“We are very sad and completely outraged that the illegal drug trade right next to our neighborhood is shutting down local businesses,” said Kristina Rogers, vice-president of the Land Park Community Association. “First Jamba Juice, and now Starbucks in the same complex.”

Rogers said the association knows that police can only do what the law allows.

“We hope that the mayor and our city council representatives push upstream to our state to bring back common sense legislation that allows police to do their job,” she said.

Back at Starbucks on Broadway in its final hours on Thursday. it was hugs and smiles between baristas and their customers.

Joshua Atkins was one of the last customers. He’s been coming to the Broadway Starbucks almost every day for the last 5 years, sometimes 2-3 times a day.

The boxing studio owner was carrying the card Starbucks employees gave him in the morning, thanking him for his business.

“They remembered my name and my order every day,” he said. “Sometimes they have my order waiting for me. It was just outstanding customer service.”

While sometimes he was asked for money by the homeless outside the Starbucks, Atkins said he never had safety concerns.

Atkins grabbed his one-shot iced espresso for his two-block walk home.

“I am very sad, honestly,” he said before walking out the door.

The baristas, who said they had been given jobs at other Sacramento locations, told their customers they hoped they would see them again occasionally.

This story was originally published August 26, 2022 at 2:56 PM.