Workers and customers were surprised Monday when the company announced the store would close an hour and a half ahead of schedule — permanently. Employees say they were given just 15 minutes notice.
When Steve Henson came to work Monday as a shift supervisor at the Country Club Plaza Starbucks, he had no idea he’d be out of a job before his shift was done.
A flyer signed by the store manager and the Starbucks district manager posted at 3:30 p.m. Monday thanked customers for “being part of the store community.”
Employees said they were told worries about safety led to the shuttering of the coffee shop. Those workers, who’d been in the midst of forming a union, said they learned of the closing only 15 minutes earlier. The company offered workers transfers to other Kansas City area Starbucks locations.
Henson said the closure came just a week after he’d heard a succession of 10 gunshots near the store.