Starbucks plans to shutter five coffeehouses, including four unionized stores, in Seattle next month.

The affected stores are located on First Hill, in the University District, in the Seattle Center Armory, in Seattle Children’s hospital and in the Metropolitan Park East building downtown.

Except for the Met Park East tower location, workers at each of these coffeehouses are represented by Starbucks Workers United, the union made up of thousands of baristas.

The stores are set to close in early April, Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson said Monday.

“We regularly review how our coffeehouses serve their neighborhoods and if they are meeting customers where they are. Sometimes that means investing in updates or trying new formats,” Anderson said in a statement. “Other times, it means making the difficult decision to close a location that no longer fits how people in that community live, work, or gather.”

Starbucks Workers United responded by filing an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board last week. It’s pushing the company to bargain about the store closures, a union spokesperson said Monday.

Union representation was not a factor considered in the decision-making process about the coffeehouse shutterings, Anderson said.

The news follows a slew of changes at the Seattle-based coffee giant over the past year under the leadership of CEO Brian Niccol.

Starbucks recently chose Tennessee as the home of a new corporate operations office, though the company confirmed there are no plans to move its headquarters out of Seattle.

In 2025, Starbucks closed hundreds of stores around North America, including more than 30 Washington locations— Seattle’s Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill and Reserve store in Sodo among them.

Starbucks baristas across more than 200 coffeehouses nationwide went on strike in November, demanding extra hours, increased take-home pay and the resolution of labor law violations. The majority of striking workers returned to their jobs in December. Contact bargaining remains at a standstill.

The coffeehouse in Seattle’s University District, 4147 University Way N.E., was a focal point in the protest against stalled union contract negotiations. Now, the store is slated to shutter on April 5, a store employee confirmed Monday.

Last year, the company laid off 974 employees— both retail and nonretail workers — in Seattle and Kent. Local store shutterings resulted in the layoffs of 369 retail employees statewide. They followed a separate round in February 2025, in which 1,100 corporate employees were laid off.

“Starbucks continues to fail its hometown,” a Workers United spokesperson 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.”

Workers United was immediately informed about the latest store closure decisions, Anderson said, and Starbucks plans to open new Seattle coffeehouses in the year ahead.

The company gave employees 30 days notice about the store closures last week, and Starbucks will either transfer employees to nearby locations or offer severance packages, Anderson said.

“These choices are never easy — especially here at home — but they’re an important part of focusing on what we do best and delivering on our Back to Starbucks strategy,” she said.

Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks,” which he put into effect after taking over the company in September 2024, includes a focus on “empowering” baristas, meeting customer expectations and improving the experience at stores through a series of steps that included streamlining pricing and phasing out mobile orders.

Workers United portrayed the shutterings as a case of union busting and vowed to keep fighting for a contract that meets the needs of baristas.

“Our message to Starbucks is simple: If you think you can crush a movement by closing a building, you’re wrong,” the Workers United spokesperson said.

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