Starbucks in Centre County damaged, forced to temporarily close after door smashed
A smashed glass door forced a Starbucks in Centre County to temporarily close Tuesday, making it one of several of the company’s locations to halt operations after they were damaged.
Starbucks, 2030 N. Atherton St., plans to reopen Wednesday, a company spokesperson wrote in a statement. It closed Tuesday for repairs.
“The experience and well-being of our partners and customers is core to our operation, and we continue to work with local police to support their investigation,” the spokesperson wrote.
Patton Township police officers are investigating the damage as a “criminal mischief incident,” Chief Tyler Jolley wrote in an email. It was reported Tuesday morning.
He declined further comment, citing the ongoing investigation. The department, Jolley wrote, plans to publicly release additional information “in the next few days after we get our initial steps completed.”
It was not known if the damage was the result of a protest related to the Israel-Hamas war, like other locations across the country have seen.
The business and the union organizing its workers sued each other in October in a standoff sparked by a social media post over the war.
The business argued a pro-Palestinian social media post from the union account angered hundreds of customers and damaged its reputation. The union fired back, claiming Starbucks defamed the union by implying it supports terrorism and violence.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
This story was originally published December 12, 2023 at 3:11 PM.