Starbucks has filed a new layoff notice with Washington state covering 224 positions tied to its Seattle headquarters, the third such filing this year from a company that keeps insisting its corporate home base isn't going anywhere.
Starbucks has not detailed severance terms for either group beyond the standard notice period, and the filing itself does not distinguish between voluntary departures and involuntary terminations for the relocation-decliners, a distinction that matters for unemployment eligibility but isn't Starbucks' to make public.
Since February 2025 alone, Starbucks has cut more than 2,500 Washington-based positions across corporate and retail roles, according to FOX 13 Seattle, a run rate that undercuts the company's framing of each new filing as simply an extension of the last one rather than a fresh cut.
The growth Niccol touted came in the same earnings cycle as the May restructuring announcement, meaning the two were presented to investors together, as two halves of one plan rather than a company choosing between cutting and growing.
SoDo Businesses Feel the Empty Desks The corporate cuts don't show up only in Starbucks' own numbers.
A new state filing splits the cuts between store-design roles and IT staff who declined to relocate to Nashville, the fourth round of Washington layoffs in 18 months even as Starbucks posts revenue growth.