Starbucks says its October 28 closure at S. Main and E. Liberty has nothing to do with the store’s union status. But the worker who spearheaded labor organizing there—and who was reinstated this May after her 2022 firing was ruled unlawful—remains skeptical.

“It makes me just sad and nervous for the people that I work with for sure,” says Hannah Whitbeck, noting scant efforts to negotiate with Starbucks Workers United, representing the longtime store’s fourteen employees since June 2022. It’s a familiar theme, as more than 360 of the coffee chain’s stores nationwide have voted to unionize since 2021, but no labor contracts have been reached to date.

Responding to an email from the Observer, Starbucks’s chief spokesperson Andrew Trull writes that it’s the company’s “standard course of business” to evaluate stores, and this one had performance and operational challenges. The specific example provided is staff turnover nearly 20 percent higher than their national average.

“It’s a college town, so that’s kind of to be expected,” Whitbeck responds. “And at the other locations that we have in downtown Ann Arbor [on State St. and South U], all of them have high turnover. So if this was an issue, I feel like this would have come up a long, long time ago, not now, very conveniently, after they had to rehire me.”

She believes the Main St. store has never been especially profitable, because it’s several blocks away from the U-M campus, and coffee drinkers have an abundance of nearby alternatives.

Labor actions, including a strike that closed the store during this summer’s Ann Arbor Art Fairs, were partly aimed at getting the company to better support worker safety, according to Whitbeck, citing employees’ frequent 911 calls in response to members of the public exhibiting apparent mental health challenges.

“That was one of our biggest reasons for unionizing … safety issues, and them not being taken seriously,” she says. “So that does intrigue me a little bit that that wasn’t something they cited, but it’s still something we definitely dealt with a lot.”

Starbucks’s Trull emails that the company planned to meet with the union toward achieving an “effects bargaining agreement” with the intent to give all affected “partners” a chance to transfer to nearby stores.

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Fans of the fast-casual, farm-to-table eatery Fresh Forage have until November 10 to get their fill. After five years in Scio Township, Andrew and Rebecca Sereno are closing to focus on other interests.

She’s an attorney, and he now runs Glacier Cannabis, a wholesaler with a 15,000-square-foot grow facility in Manchester. A founding partner’s departure ended up putting too much of the onus on the couple to keep the restaurant going, Andrew tells the Observer. They’re seeking a buyer interested in continuing the concept and inheriting the lease.

“It’s been a tough decision,” he says. “Obviously, [the restaurant was] very well reviewed, and a lot of success in general. It’s been a good time. We also have two kids, too, so you really gotta think about where you’re spending your time.”

Fresh Forage (closing Nov. 10), 5060 Jackson Rd. (734) 887–6655. Mon.–Sat. 9:30 a.m.–8 p.m. Closed Sun. freshforage.com

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The Gordon Food Service Store at 2151 W. Liberty closed October 6 after ten years in business. The warehouse-style market, serving the general public as well as commercial customers, had operated in a competitive west-side area for groceries, with Kroger, Arbor Farms Market, ALDI, and Plum Market all nearby.

The privately owned company based in Wyoming, Michigan, made the “strategic decision” to close and refer customers to its location at 3800 Carpenter Rd. in Pittsfield Township, according to spokesperson Sharon Devine. She had no details to share about plans for the company-owned, 15,000-square-foot building abutting O’Reilly Auto Parts.

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