Newtown Starbucks Closed for Appreciation Event

The ‘Starbucks Appreciation Day’ event that was planned at the Newtown, CT Starbucks on Friday didn’t happen. The anti-gun zealots threw a temper tantrum and decided to protest the Pro-gun group.

I can’t really blame the antis for organizing a counter protest, because here in the Triangle we love giving antis a good southern welcome whenever they come to town.

Here’s the message posted on the Starbucks Blog:

Dear Customers,

At Starbucks we are proud that our stores serve as gathering places for thousands of communities across the country and we appreciate that our customers share diverse points of view on issues that matter to them. We also believe in being sensitive to each community we serve.

Today, advocacy groups from different sides of the open carry debate announced plans to visit our Newtown, Connecticut store to bring attention to their points of view. We recognize that there is significant and genuine passion surrounding this topic, however out of respect for Newtown and everything the community has been through we decided to close our store early before the event started. Starbucks did not endorse or sponsor the event. We continue to encourage customers and advocacy groups from all sides of the debate to contact their elected officials, who make the open carry laws that our company follows. Our long-standing approach to this topic has been to comply with local laws and statutes in the communities we serve.

Thank you for your understanding and respect for the Newtown community.

Sincerely,

Chris Carr

executive vice president, U.S. Retail

Honestly, I’m not going to blame Starbucks for their decision. The the antis in attendance certainly would have done everything they could to cause a scene, and make a story for the anti-gun media to run non stop for days on end.