Starbucks has announced it will close all 8,000 company stores nationwide on the afternoon of May 29 to conduct a racial bias training.
The announcement came as a Starbucks in Philadelphia was the scene of racially charged incident last week that has led to protests and calls for a boycott.
“The training will be provided to nearly 175,000 partners (employees) across the country, and will become part of the onboarding process for new partners,” the company said in a statement..
This past Thursday, two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks and partial video of the incident went viral:
Police said they were told that the men asked to use the restroom but were denied because they hadn’t bought anything. They later released the men, saying there was no basis for a criminal charge.
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson has met with the two men and apologized. The manager of the Starbucks has been terminated.