Starbucks Closes

Starbucks Closes
Shops To Avoid Gun Rights Supporters Holding Meeting

Warner Todd Huston
August 11, 2013 2:33pm PST

A group of open carry activists had planned to meet at a Starbucks in Newtown, Connecticut on August 8 but found the store closed up before their arrival. The store did not want to serve the gun owners.
The gun-supporting event was held at numerous Starbucks across the country with little incident. The Newtown store was the only one to act to prevent a meeting taking place.

Newtown, CT was the scene of the horrendous school shooting in 2012.
When gun supporters arrived at the Newtown Starbucks they were greeted with a notice taped to the door.

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Out of respect for Newtown and everything our community has been through, we have decided to close our store early today. Starbucks did not endorse today’s event. We continue to encourage customers and advocacy groups from all sides of the debate to contact the elected officials, who make the laws our company follows. We recognize there is significant passion surrounding this topic, however we believe people should be sensitive to our community.

Friday, August 09, 2013
Posted by Chris Carr., executive vice president, U.S. Retail
Dear Customers,
At Starbucks we are proud that our stores serve as gathering places for thousands of communities across the country and we appreciate that our customers share diverse points of view on issues that matter to them. We also believe in being sensitive to each community we serve.
Today, advocacy groups from different sides of the open carry debate announced plans to visit our Newtown, Connecticut store to bring attention to their points of view. We recognize that there is significant and genuine passion surrounding this topic, however out of respect for Newtown and everything the community has been through we decided to close our store early before the event started. Starbucks did not endorse or sponsor the event. We continue to encourage customers and advocacy groups from all sides of the debate to contact their elected officials, who make the open carry laws that our company follows. Our long-standing approach to this topic has been to comply with local laws and statutes in the communities we serve.
Thank you for your understanding and respect for the Newtown community.

Sincerely,
Chris Carr
executive vice president, U.S. Retail

Open Carry advocates have been doing this at Starbucks shops since at least 2010.