Back in February, Wisconsin-based Penzeys Spices was reportedly No. 2 in the country in Facebook spending on impeachment ads. CEO Bill Penzey said at the time that “the president’s Ukraine scandal is the big one. I get that it can be hard to believe any scandal will stick, but this one is different.”
After the recent rioting in Kenosha and despite the Penzeys Spices store located in that city not being damaged, Penzey wants “loot” his own store in response to an email.
Bill Penzey of Penzey's Spices, on the subject of if he'd still support protests if one of his stores got looted. pic.twitter.com/Wmt29UP39a
— If you're not furious, you're on the wrong side. (@MoggieBoourns) August 27, 2020
From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
“Someone wrote to say that you would be singing a different tune if it was your store being looted,” Penzey wrote in the email. “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. The Kenosha location near the freeway is not near the center of demonstrations near Library Park and the Civic Center Park.
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.”
Back in May, one of Penzer’s Minneapolis stores actually was affected by looting in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. A tweet shows a photo of the murals painted on the boarded-up store after it had been damaged.
The mural A New Hope by @AntonsArtworks at Penzeys Uptown Minneapolis #StreetArt #mural pic.twitter.com/EmomkqXupD
— Kenneth G Tompkins (@tompkins4881) June 14, 2020
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