Starbucks Shuts Five Seattle Stores, Closing Four Unionized Locations

Starbucks announced Monday it will close five Seattle-area coffeehouses in early April, targeting four locations represented by Starbucks Workers United and reigniting a fierce dispute between the company and its organized workforce over stalled contract negotiations.

The affected stores are the Seattle Center Armory, Seattle Children's Hospital, the University District location at 4147 University Way N.E., the First Hill store, and the Metropolitan Park East building downtown. The University District store is slated to close April 5. Only the Metropolitan Park East location is non-union; workers at the remaining four are represented by Starbucks Workers United, the union that represents over 12,000 baristas nationwide.

Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson said employees were given 30 days' notice last week and will be offered transfers to nearby locations or severance packages. The company also said it plans to open new Seattle coffeehouses later in the year. Anderson stated that union status was "not a factor in the decision-making process."

Workers United rejected that framing in forceful terms. "Starbucks continues to fail its hometown," the union said. "After laying off thousands of corporate employees, opening a new office in Nashville, and closing its flagship stores, CEO Brian Niccol is yet again upending the lives of employees and disrupting customers with no notice or justification." The union added: "It has never been more clear why baristas at Starbucks need the backing of a union," and said it planned to bargain for affected workers to secure transfers.

The closures land at a particularly raw moment. The University District store, which filed for union representation on April 26, 2022 and has never finalized a contract with the company, was already a focal point of labor protests. It was temporarily shuttered from November 13, 2025, through February 16, 2026, after workers joined a nationwide strike on Starbucks' "Red Cup Day," demanding better staffing hours, higher pay, resolutions to outstanding unfair labor practice charges, and a fair contract.

For barista Aidan Inchausti, who began working at the University District location in October 2025, the permanent closure announcement came as a devastating blow. "To go through the strike and then have the store close is a crazy, 'Life doesn't feel real' type of situation right now," Inchausti said. "It's really upsetting." He told the University of Washington student newspaper, The Daily, that losing the job would force him to leave Seattle entirely.

The five Seattle closures fit into a broader restructuring at Starbucks. The company's U.S. and Canada store count is expected to fall by roughly 1%, or several hundred locations, by the end of fiscal 2025. TD Cowen analysts estimate approximately 500 North American company-owned stores have been affected by the restructuring overall. The closures extend beyond Seattle: a unionized Starbucks on Chicago's Ridge Avenue has also shut, with baristas picketing that location.

The labor conflict has intensified across six consecutive quarters of declining U.S. sales. CEO Brian Niccol, who took over the chain's turnaround effort, has focused on cutting service times, trimming management layers, and restoring what the company calls a coffeehouse atmosphere. Contract talks with Workers United began in April 2025 but have, by the union's account, hit a wall.

Starbucks' layoff record in Seattle adds weight to union frustration. Last year the company cut 974 workers in Seattle and Kent, with local store closures accounting for 369 statewide retail layoffs. A separate round in February 2025 eliminated 1,100 corporate positions.

Workers United has said it will bargain on behalf of affected employees to ensure transfer rights, a process that will test how much leverage the union retains as Starbucks continues reshaping its store portfolio from its own headquarters city.