Alexandria, VA — While the appetizing aroma of freshly brewed coffee is missing from the historic retail building housing the newly shuttered Starbucks at 100 S. Union Street, the expectations of an active return of business at the iconic intersection are running high for the future. For now, the stone and antique brick building’s sign is covered with black plastic material and the inside of the windows completely covered in brown paper.
The abrupt closing of hundreds of Starbucks coffee shops around the country including the Starbucks located at 100 S. Union Street on Friday, Sept. 26, came as part of the “Back to Starbucks” campaign, announced by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol who indicated the action was part of a corporate decision.
Its Customer Service Office could not supply information this week regarding how many employees of the S. Union Street location would be relocating to other Starbuck stores.
In a statement, CEO Niccol stated that “We’re working hard to offer transfers to nearby locations where possible and will move quickly to help partners understand what opportunities might be available to them. For those we can’t immediately place, we’re focused on partner care including comprehensive severance packages. We also hope to welcome many of these partners back to Starbucks in the future as new coffeehouses open and the number of partners in each location grows.”
The Starbucks Customer Service Office could not supply information regarding how many employees of the S. Union Street location would be relocating to other Starbuck stores. A customer service contact said the company could not identify what store employees were able to transfer to other Starbucks in the area, noting that “it was management information that we don’t manage” publicly.
Austin Elouafa, who identified himself as the manager of the closest Starbucks at 532 King Street, said he could not comment as to whether any of the laid-off Starbucks workers would be working at that location. “Business as usual,” was his comment when asked whether he noticed perhaps an increase of customers in the past few days from the S. Union Street location…