Starbucks is permanently closing its University Way Northeast store near the University of Washington on April 5, 2026, adding another Seattle-area closure following the news that the coffee giant is moving corporate jobs out of Washington State.
According to The Daily, the closure comes after the Ave location was temporarily shut for roughly three months during a strike that began on November 13, 2025, Red Cup Day, one of Starbucks’ busiest annual promotions. Workers at unionized Starbucks locations around the country joined that strike to demand better staffing, higher take-home pay, movement on unfair labor practice complaints, and a contract. The University Way store voted to unionize in 2022, and no contract has been finalized.
In a statement, Starbucks said the store closure followed a routine review of how locations serve their neighborhoods.
“As a standard course of business, 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. 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.”
After the nationwide Red Cup Day strike began in November, protesters who said they were Starbucks employees later set up an encampment at the company’s Seattle headquarters, escalating the dispute beyond individual stores and into the company’s hometown corporate footprint.
That protest movement drew support from prominent Democrats, including Rep. Ro Khanna, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and Sen. Bernie Sanders. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani backed the strike, and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson joined workers on the picket line shortly after her election victory. Jayapal supported and spoke at the encampment, publicly calling on corporations and wealthy Americans to “pay their fair share.”
The latest store closure comes after Tennessee officials announced last week that the coffee giant will open a corporate operations office in Nashville, later this year, and that jobs would be moving from Seattle to Davidson County. Starbucks claimed Seattle will remain its North America and Global Support headquarters, but the new office will house part of the company’s supply-chain and sourcing-related work, with additional Nashville hiring expected over time.
SOURCE: Starbucks has already paid out the remainder of its lease on one of its Seattle-area office locations and left the location in preparation for the move to Nashville, TN
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) March 9, 2026
However, sources told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI that Starbucks has already paid out the remainder of its lease on one Seattle-area office location and vacated the space in preparation for the Nashville move. Starbucks has not publicly confirmed that detail.
This follows the closure of multiple Starbucks franchises in high-profile locations in the Emerald City.
The store closure and Nashville expansion come as Democratic lawmakers in Olympia continue debating and advancing major tax proposals, following a 2025 budget that saw the largest tax increases in Washington history.
