Starbucks has told two states it is shutting stores for good. A Washington filing dated October 7 covers five stores in Seattle, Redmond, Spokane and Vancouver, and a Pennsylvania listing covers two stores in Philadelphia. The notices count 51 workers in Washington and 18 in Philadelphia.
Eight of the Washington jobs are at the company’s Seattle headquarters rather than behind a counter. The Philadelphia stores, on South Street and North Second Street, are set to close December 6. The Washington separations run from November 14 through December 4.
Five Washington stores, eight headquarters jobs
According to KOMO News, the Washington stores are on Rainier Avenue South and Leary Way Northwest in Seattle, 170th Avenue Northeast in Redmond, West Wellesley Avenue in Spokane, and Southeast 164th Avenue in Vancouver. Starbucks says the closures are permanent.
The WARN tracker Kadoa lists the same notice, dated October 7, with 51 workers and a November 14 effective date. WARN stands for the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the federal law that requires employers to give advance notice of closings.
KOMO reports that Starbucks told the state affected workers received at least 60 days of notice. Most of them are not union members and have no bumping rights, the notice says. Workers at the Redmond store and the Wellesley and Belt store in Spokane are union-represented.
For anyone working at one of these seven stores, the first thing to settle is whether a transfer offer is coming and what it pays. Anyone who is not placed elsewhere is looking at a last day between November 14 and December 6. That date is the one a household budget has to be built around, along with which benefits start when the paycheck stops.
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Two Philadelphia stores and 18 jobs
Pennsylvania posts its notices on a public list kept by the state Department of Labor and Industry. The October entry reads Starbucks, 2201 South Street and 1018 North Second Street, Philadelphia, 18 workers, effective December 6, 2026, listed as a closure.
The state list does not say how many of the 18 jobs sit at each store, and it does not print a notice date. Kadoa shows the Pennsylvania notices as filed October 1, a week before the Washington one.
Philadelphia has been through this before. The same state list carries a December 2025 entry for six Center City stores, on Market, Walnut, Spruce, Broad and Chestnut streets, all marked as closings. Those entries do not list a worker count.
What Starbucks says it will do for the people affected
Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams wrote to employees that the targeted locations either are not delivering acceptable financial results or cannot give customers and workers the experience the company wants, KIRO 7 reported. In his words, “some coffeehouses continue to underperform despite the hard work and commitment of all of you.”
The company says it will transfer employees to other stores in the area where it can. If it cannot place someone, Starbucks says it will offer severance support. KIRO 7 says the company announced last month that it was closing 250 North American stores, and these filings fit that larger plan.
Grams also said Starbucks is retrofitting North American stores to make them cozier, with 1,500 expected done by September 30, and that the company remains committed to growing its store count. KIRO 7 adds that more than 700 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late 2021, and the company and the union have not reached a labor agreement.
A transfer keeps a paycheck alive, but it does not always keep the same schedule. Hours, pay rate and commute can all change when a barista lands in a different store. Workers weighing an offer have the closure date as leverage on their own time, since the notices give weeks of warning.
When a paycheck has an end date, the household questions start
The federal Labor Department’s WARN page says the law helps ensure advance notice in qualified plant closings and mass layoffs, and that only federal courts enforce it. The advance notice is the useful part. It gives families a window to sort out what comes next.
In Washington, the Employment Security Department runs unemployment benefits. Its site describes the weekly benefit as the payment made each week before deductions and points applicants to an estimator for the amount. The Unemployment Claims Center takes calls at 800-318-6022.
Unemployment is only one program. Food help, heating aid and health coverage rules often turn on household income, and a layoff changes that number. A cut hours-and-pay transfer can change it too, which is why the dates matter as much as the dollar amounts.
That leaves the open question for these workers and their families. If a store job ends in November or December, which benefits can the household actually draw on, and how soon does each one need an application? The state notices supply the dates, and the state agencies and programs set their own rules.
Facing a Starbucks closing date in November or December?
A layoff date on a state notice starts a clock. Unemployment is one program, but households also run into food help, heating aid and health coverage rules that each have their own forms and income tests, and a missed application can mean a month of lost help.
The Benefits Checklist scans 11 benefit programs and lists the 2026 income limits next to each one, so a household can see which programs fit a post-layoff income. It also includes a 50-state phone directory and a printable application tracker for keeping dates straight.
Run the Benefits Checklist before the last shift →
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This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
