Starbucks will close more than 8,000 US stores for an afternoon of racial bias training after the arrest of two black men in a Philadelphia branch triggered claims of discrimination.

Almost 175,000 workers will go through training on May 29, the company announced on Tuesday after footage of the arrest made headlines.

Kevin Johnson, the Starbucks CEO, said the move was just “one step” in the company’s “journey” to improve and understand “what we did wrong”.

Footage of the arrest taken by other customers had gone viral in recent days and prompted a slew of negative headlines for the company.

The two black men had been waiting for a friend when they were asked to leave by staff.