QFC to close two Seattle stores, blames city’s new $4 hazard pay law
Updated Feb 17, 2021;
By Paul Roberts | The Seattle Times and Tribune News Service
The heated debate over Seattle’s $4-an-hour hazard pay law for grocery workers escalated sharply this week.
On Tuesday, QFC announced it will close two Seattle stores by April 24 and blamed the move, in part, on the new law.
Although QFC acknowledged that both locations at 416 15th Avenue East on Capitol Hill and at 8400 35th Ave. NE in Wedgwood were “underperforming,” the decision to close them was “accelerated” by Seattle’s hazard pay law, which the City Council approved Jan. 25.