FILE - This March 14, 2017, file photo show the Starbucks logo on a shop in downtown Pittsburgh. Starbucks is announcing a new policy that allows anyone to sit in its cafes or use its restrooms, even if they don't buy anything. Company executives have said its previous policies were loose and ambiguous, leaving decisions on whether people could sit in its stores or use the restroom up to store managers. Starbucks said Saturday, May 19, 2018 it has told workers to consider anyone who walks into its stores a customer, "regardless of whether they make a purchase." (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)After Starbucks received national criticism for the arrest of two black men at a Philidelphia location last month, more than 8,000 stores across the country will close Tuesday afternoon for racial bias education and training, including four stores in the Chattanooga area.
Brainerd Starbucks store manager Samantha Weber said an estimated 100 employees will take part in the training from the four, company-owned stores in the Chattanooga area as well as roughly 50 employees at two Cleveland, Tenn. stores. A corporate spokesperson said there are 99 company-owned stores in Tennessee that will close that afternoon.
The Chattanooga locations to close include 5610 Brainerd Road, 2217 Hamilton Place Blvd. and 1951 Gunbarrel Road. The Hixson location at 5238 Highway 153 will also be closed. Stores will close around 2:30-3 p.m. and stay closed for a few hours or the rest of the day depending on the location.
All stores will reopen for normal operating hours on Wednesday. Licensed stores, like the one inside of the Read House Inn & Suites on Broad Street downtown or the ones located inside of malls, hospitals and other developments, will not close for the training, Weber said.
In April, Philidelphia police officers arrested two black men, Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson, at a Starbucks after an employee accused them of trespassing. Officials have said police officers were told the men had asked to use the store's restroom but were denied because they hadn't bought anything and they refused to leave. Video shows police talking quietly with two black men seated at a table. After a few minutes, officers handcuff the men and lead them outside but customers said they weren't doing anything wrong.
The two men reached a settlement with the company and Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson earlier this month for an undisclosed sum and an offer for a free college education.
Starbucks also announced last weekend that anyone can use their bathrooms whether or not they purchase anything.
A Starbucks spokesperson said the "unconscious bias" training on Tuesday will be provided to 175,000 employees across the nation and will become a part of training for all new employees, too.
"The curriculum will be developed with guidance from several national and local experts confronting racial bias, including Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative; Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; Heather McGhee, president of Demos; former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder; and Jonathan Greenblatt, ceo of the Anti-Defamation League," she said.
The training is centered around a Team Guidebook, which includes a "recommitment" to Starbucks mission and values, and discussion starters about personal bias and what employees can do to "create a more welcoming Starbucks."
"We understand that racial and systemic bias have many causes, sources and ways of showing up within each of us and in our communities," a Starbucks video about the racial-bias training says.
The video describes the training as an opportunity for "real and honest exploration of bias" and for discussing "the realities and impact of racial discrimination in public accommodations from the civil rights movement all the way to today."
"We're here to make Starbucks a place where everyone, everyone feels welcome," CEO Kevin Johnson said in his video for the workshop.
Contact staff writer Allison Shirk at ashirk@timesfreepress.com, @Allison_Shirk or 423-757-6651.