“After careful consideration, we are closing some stores in locations that have experienced a high volume of challenging incidents that make it unsafe to continue to operate, to open new locations with safer conditions,” a Starbucks spokesperson told Insider. The incidents involve drug use in stores by customers and other members of the public reported by workers. The closures are a move to make Starbucks locations safer for customers and employees, the company said, echoing a letter from senior VPs of US operations Debbie Stroud and Denise Nelson sent to employees on July 11.

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