Staffing issues affect Starbucks stores in Pierce County amid COVID surge
Starbucks has become the latest retailer in Pierce County to introduce temporary closures amid rising COVID-19 cases and a new vaccination policy.
At least one location in Pierce County closed its lobby amid staffing issues on Tuesday along with anecdotal accounts of other sites also shifting to reduced services.
Starbucks did not immediately confirm whether lobby closures were being implemented at all Pierce County in-store locations, though reports nationwide have followed in recent months of temporary closures.
According to a sign posted at the U.P. Crossing store, 6720 Regents Blvd. W., Starbucks said: “We have temporarily closed our in-store cafe, but our drive thru remains open for customers in vehicles. If you placed a mobile order, or are here to pick up for delivery, please drive thru to get your order. ... Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience.”
An employee who gave her name as Angie but did not wish to give her last name told The News Tribune on Tuesday: “We have staffing issues this week. And so it made sense for us to close our lobby.”
The company has allowed for local store managers to adjust operations through the pandemic, including closing lobbies if cases spike in a community.
Starbucks, in a statement delivered through a spokesman Tuesday afternoon, told The News Tribune:
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, local leaders can and do scale operations based on partner availability and local COVID-19 factors. When a store is experiencing a temporary staff shortage, we respond by reducing hours to be mindful that our partners aren’t overworked, prioritizing their health and well being in our decision making. These decisions are made on a store by store and market by market basis. And our customers can check the Starbucks locator on our website or app for their stores current hours of operation.”
The company announced its COVID vaccination policy in late December, which calls for U.S. employees to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing by Feb. 9 at employees’ expense.
The policy applies to staff in cafes, offices, plants and distribution centers. The company required workers to disclose their vaccination status by Jan. 10, according to Bloomberg.
Over the weekend, Walmart temporarily closed its Lakewood store at 7001 Bridgeport Way W. for a store cleaning and restock, as it has done at other locations regionally and nationwide when faced with high levels of community transmission and high numbers of employees out with COVID-19. More than 50 cases were tied to the Lakewood store in Tacoma Pierce County Health Department’s list of outbreaks.
Business, school, and long-term care outbreaks in Pierce County numbered more than 1,100 as of Jan. 6, according to the health department, with those numbers likely to climb amid record numbers of COVID-19 reported in the state.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 1:42 PM.
