The move comes on the heels of the arrest of two black men who were waiting at a Philadelphia store
Starbucks has said it will close all its US stores for the afternoon of 29 May while it conducts what it called "racial bias education" in light of the recent arrest of two black men who were waiting in one the coffee giant's Philadelphia locations.
Late last week the two men entered the store wanting to use the bathroom. An employee, whose identity has not been made public, called the police after they saw the men waiting at a table without ordering anything. The two were then arrested for trespassing, with video of it going viral. No formal charges were filed and the employee in question is no longer working at the store.
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson called the incident "reprehensible" and met with the two men in Philadelphia to apologise in person. Mr Johnson has not said if the employee was punished for her actions. "I'd like to have a dialogue with [the two black men arrested] so that I can ensure that we have the opportunity to really understand the situation and show some compassion and empathy for the experience they went through. Finally as we're working to solve this, I'd like to invite them to join me in finding a constructive way to solve this issue," he told ABC.
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