Whether stopping by before work to get a coffee, stopping for bagels in the middle of the day, or picking up an after-school snack, the Bernardsville Town Center has always been an active part of our community for everyone. However, there has recently been several issues with the staffing that has been happening within the Bernardsville Town Center. There have been complaints about the lack of staff in the shops in the town center from both the business owners and from frequent shoppers. The staffing issues that have plagued the Bernards Town Center have gotten a hold of the most popular places in town, and people are not happy about it.
Starbucks, a popular destination for high school and middle schoolers before and after their respective school days, as well as anyone looking to grab coffee throughout the day, has taken a huge hit due to the lack of staffing.
In an article by INSIDER, a shift supervisor in Ohio said that they “cannot keep employees or hire enough workers to continue” and several Starbucks baristas and managers have voiced their opinions of unfair pay and treatment for the hard work they are putting in due to being understaffed. For a period of time, the Bernardsville Starbucks location was only open from 8 AM until 2 PM, due to these staffing issues. “I haven’t had Starbucks since the time it started closing at 2,” said Julia Binns, ‘24, when recently asked about the issue.
In a recent post on the Bernardsville Bubble, published by the owner of the town center’s Starbucks, she responded to the stream of angry messages about the store closing early on November 26 of this year.
She said, “I’m sorry we had to close early today… I know our hours have been crazy. I know being closed on Sundays is not what anyone wants. I know staffing issues, not only at Starbucks, but most retail, food establishments are troublesome.”
She also mentions in her post that “there was a last minute incident that led to her losing one of her only employees for the day.” She also said that her son had to come to work with her to help deal with the crowd so they would not have to close.
The Starbucks in town is not the only business that is losing staff, though. Several businesses went out of business due to staffing issues in the center of town, and there are plenty that had to close for long periods of time due to it. Chipotle, also a popular restaurant in the center of town, has had similar complaints about closing early and having staffing issues.
Milo Disabato, sophomore and Chipotle fanatic, says, “After a long day at school or after a tough sports practice or lift, the body needs to be fueled, no better place to do that than Chipotle Mexican Grill. So we thought, even online it says that it closes at 6 which is still early but reasonable.”
Chipotle and Starubucks are not the only two businesses experiencing staffing declines and therefore a lack of business, though. According to an article by CNBC, a very limited number of businesses surveyed expect to increase staff in the next year, and in the past two to three months, only 16% say they have increased staff. We see this reflected in our town with Chipotle and Starbucks, and many of the smaller, privately owned businesses both closing early or closing indefinitely.
There has been a serious decline in both the hours open in stores in the Bernardsville Center and in the amount of people working in each of the stores for the short period of time that they are open.