Seattle Tea Shop Blames Downtown Closure On Efforts to Defund the Police
In a recent interview with local FOX affiliate Q13, the owners of local tea shop mini-chain Steepologie, Andrea and Joe Raetzer, said they permanently closed their downtown location, citing the city council’s effort to decrease the budget for the Seattle Police Department (SPD) as a major factor in the decision.
They later clarified to Eater Seattle that the shop closure happened before the council officially voted to pass the budget amendments, and that they had nixed a plan to relocate to Westlake Center due to the full-on vote itself.
“What city council has done has been more detrimental to our business than a global pandemic, by far, absolutely,” Joe told Q13. The couple mentioned that they supported police reform and the protests, but Andrea said “our ability to express ourselves and protest what we believe in now has completely been overtaken by violence and rioting and complete lack of respect for each other.”
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But at least some of Steepologie’s concerns predate the SPD shakeup, the protests, and pandemic. The owners of the loose leaf tea retailer say that the location on 4th Avenue and Stewart Street (open since 2017) had seen a steady drop in customer traffic over the past year and a half.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/seattle-tea-shop-blames-downtown-closure-on-efforts-to-defund-the-police/ar-BB17T4bP?ocid=hplocalnews
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