Penzeys Spices owner wants to ‘loot’ Kenosha store in support of protests
While the Penzeys Spices store in Kenosha was not damaged during violent protests in the city, its CEO wants to “loot” his own store.
Bill Penzey emailed customers of his Wauwatosa-based chain of spice shops that he supports the mission behind the protests in Kenosha in response to a police officer shooting Jacob Blake in the back seven times at close range.
“Someone wrote to say that you would be singing a different tune if it was your store being looted,” Penzey wrote. “I’m by no means perfect but seriously no, I wouldn’t. Human life means everything; stuff, not so much.”
Penzey, who is well known for making political statements, asked “What if we looted our own store?”
“What if we took a snapshot of our Kenosha store’s inventory tonight and simply gave away exactly that amount of inventory in the coming weeks?” he wrote.
Penzey is now soliciting suggestions for organizations that could benefit from the spice shop “looting.”
“If you are connected to a good organization in the area please let us know about it at editor@penzeys.com,” he wrote.
Penzey said in an email Friday that the company had received more than 5,000 responses to this message. The majority thanked Penzey for taking this action, he said.
“For the people of Kenosha this has been a lot like living through a hurricane,” he said Friday. “That people care about what they are going through seems to mean a lot to them right now. I imagine it will take as a couple of days to sort through all the responses.”
Penzeys has about a dozen locations in Wisconsin and stores across the U.S.