SAN DIEGO — A Starbucks in Hillcrest is set to close down after nearly three decades. The store, at Fifth Avenue and Robinson Avenue, opened back in 1994 and is believed to be one of San Diego’s oldest locations. It's expected to close at the end of the month.
The news of the closing has hit faithful customers hard.
“I was coming to this Starbucks since my daughter was little. It's very sad,” said longtime customer, Bianca Porrino.
Porrino has lived in San Diego for over 20 years and visits the store in Hillcrest regularly.
“The Starbucks over here is phenomenal. This is my stop, every time I stop by, this is where I go," she said.
Soon she and others will have to find another location for their coffee breaks.
A spokesperson for the company said the location will close at the end of June.
“When I heard the news that they were closing I said ‘no this is not possible, this is not happening.’ It’s a great location, great traffic,” added Porrino.
Executive Director of the Hillcrest Business Association, Benjamin Nicholls, says a big reason for the store’s closure is the homeless crisis.
“This is a real tragedy because that Starbucks has been there for a long time probably one of the oldest Starbucks in the city. And the tragedy is that they're not closing because they're not making any money. They’re closing because of the street environment around them," said Nicholls.
A source within the company we spoke to Wednesday afternoon told us decisions to modify store operations can be made at the local level by company leaders, but store closures are decided by the corporate team. While they won't say directly that the local homeless population is to blame - the safety and well-being of customers and employees are their number one priority.
Nicholls says the employees at this location have to deal with those experiencing homelessness constantly entering the store.
“People literally just taking food from the table of a patron and walking away or stealing retail items. It's a real nightmare. And when you you know at the end before they closed, you go in that Starbucks right now no retail items available because they would have gotten stolen. No prepared food for sale in the little cooler that they have because it would have gotten stolen. Chairs are gone. Everything is sort of It's like It's like they're on lockdown,” he added.
Supervisor Jim Desmond, says the closure is a direct result from deteriorating conditions caused by the ongoing homelessness crisis and the failure of current policies to address root causes.
In a statement, Desmond says “taxpayers deserve accountability for the exorbitant amount of money being spent, and they are rightfully tired of witnessing the problem persist and worse.”
Nicholls says he hopes the ban on encampments the city council passed late Tuesday night will do more to lift the burden off businesses.
CBS 8 reached out to District 3 Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, who authored the ordinance. In a statement he says:
“Passing my Unsafe Camping Ordinance was a significant and necessary first step in making our sidewalks and neighborhoods safer.”
The store will close June 29.
Watch Related: The history of San Diego neighborhood Hillcrest as told in 1994