by Doug Stephenson & Abdul-Hakim Shabazz

When Starbucks in Circle Tower locks its doors for the last time Thursday, it will mark the end of a 20+ year history on the Circle. A corporate spokesman released a statement similar to those given for 16 other stores closed around the country since July due to “repeated safety issues, including drug use and other disruptive behaviors that threaten staff.” Even though IMPD has only been called to the circle location once in 2022, Starbucks personnel have said the location leads the state in safety incidents reported internally. While the local news and social media point to the closing as a measure of Downtown being unsafe in the wake of the 2020 riots and the Covid lockdown, the devolution of the Circle Starbucks dates back nearly a decade and continued through the teens before coming to a head in 2018, then relapsing in 20-21. The safety issues are real but more specific to that store and Monument Circle- and not a reflection of the overall downtown safety.

It’s the image all downtowners from the early 2000s remember fondly when they think of downtown Indy. From the time it opened in the early 2000s through the excitement leading to the Superbowl in 2012, Starbucks on Monument Circle was THE meeting and mingling spot in downtown Indy. With a line out the door and a full wraparound outdoor cafe, the tiny corner shop was both a destination and meetup spot for an office, government, and hospitality workers. Events like the Tree Lighting or 4th of July Fireworks would see the crew bring out literally hundreds of gallons of drink containers to sell from tables on their outdoor cafe. Starbucks even moved its Indiana corporate office into the building above its flagship store.

After the Superbowl, city leadership and Downtown Indy Inc. (DII) began to refocus money and resources away from Monument Circle to the newly built Georgia Street corridor. Concerts, food-truck events, and convention activities were being corralled into the Wholesale District south of Washington St, with Monument Circle being relegated to a photo-op spot for visiting tourists. Even though the weekday business traffic was still there, a little luster was gone.

From 2016 to 2018,  local and national events led to a perfect storm of trouble on the downtown streets, with the Circle Starbucks at its epicenter.

  • In 2016 the CCC passed the “Homeless Bill of Rights,” which limited the policing of panhandlers and the homeless.
  • In 2017 CSX began a multiyear bridge project, clearing out homeless camps under their bridges and sending 100-plus displaced campers into Downtown.
  • In early 2018 Anthem moved its workforce from the NW quadrant building down to its near-southside campus.
  • In response to an incident in Philadelphia, SB Corporate launched the “Everyone Welcome” policy, prohibiting staff from restricting the lobby and restroom to paying customers.
  • Finally, the summer of 2018 saw the Spice dealers/pushers invade and throttle the downtown street population with a poison that caused district-wide addiction and multiple daily ODs.

By the fall of 2018, the one-time jewel of the Circle’s lobby was filled with street people napping on backpacks and sleeping bags while charging their electronics. The restroom(when open) was being vandalized daily. The cafe seating outdoors was taken over by petty dealers and spice-addled ruffians. Shopping carts and trash forts sprung up around the Starbucks cafe and extended down to the Hilbert Theater awning. This new group of aggressive street people pushed the regular panhandlers off the Circle. Neighboring merchants were beside themselves, asking for support from the city government. DII was caught off-guard by the rapid influx of lawlessness on E Market and the Circle centered at the Starbucks. When neighboring merchants pleaded with Starbucks management to enforce the cafe ordinance and trespass the dealers and troublemakers off of their cafe(+50ft), they ignored them and maintained the contentious relationship with IMPD fostered in the aftermath of the Philadelphia mess.

After a series of frightening incidents involving Yuletide visitors on East Market in December 2018, a summit was held in the ISO building among downtown merchants, city officials, Downtown Indy Inc, and several other stakeholders to clean up the Circle going forward. Starbucks refused to attend or address the problem swirling around their location. Shortly after, they quietly moved their corporate headquarters from  CIrcle Tower to a new, “safer” location on Mass Ave. A plan of action was implemented by Downtown Indy to better patrol and clean up the Southeast quadrant and East Market- minus Starbucks.

As matters got worse within the location, Starbucks finally resolved to remove all seating, close the restroom, cap the electrical outlets, and use this location as an experimental “grab-n-go” store- booting all the loiterers and dealers back onto the street. Downtown Indy’s safety and cleanliness plan started taking hold, and the Circle district began a slow reformation to normal through 2019. Still, Starbucks would never again be seen as a bustling meetup spot.

Covid and the May riots, of course, put a dead stop to 2019s progress and left Monument Circle in shambles. Over two years removed, the boards are gone, and much of Downtown has recovered its former beauty. Unfortunately, Monument Circle’s social vibrancy and Starbucks’ bottom line depend on the thousands of daily office workers who are no longer there. With several other locations servicing the exploding downtown residential markets of the future,  corporate is cutting bait on the store model that embodied the Downtown Indy scene of the past. While citing safety and liability issues is a convenient cover for Starbucks to close an underperforming store, it should also be an alarm to city officials and Downtown Indy to refocus attention and resources onto Monument Circle. The Circle will always drive outsiders’ perception of the condition and safety of Downtown. It should be better maintained.

Doug Stephenson is a long-time Downtown merchant.

Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is the editor and publisher of Indy Politics.