SEATTLE — The news was abrupt, with some employees learning their store was closing from media outlets and others before the sun rose this morning.
Starbucks is permanently closing both of their Reserve locations in Seattle — the popular Reserve Roastery in Capitol Hill and the Reserve store in SoDo.
Several employees of the Starbucks Reserve Roastery say they got a text message about their final shift around 4 a.m. They were then directed to a call at 8 a.m.
“Based on this decision, your last day working was yesterday, September 24th,” audio from the call said. A former roastery employee provided a recording of the call to KIRO 7.
“We’re all in a bit of shock still,” said Matalyn Jacobs, who had worked at the Roastery for about six months.
Jacobs says employees were let out of the store an hour early on Wednesday night for maintenance work. Before dawn this morning, the store had been completely boarded up, the smell of plywood replacing the smell of roasting coffee beans.
Camryn Thomas has been at the Roastery for two years and feels disrespected by how Starbucks chose to lay her off.
“This is the real Starbucks touch.” Thomas said, “Honestly, the little stapled message to the door is an insult to injury. This is so on-brand for the company.”
The Capitol Hill Roastery was the first of the reserve spaces Starbucks opened. The Seattle-based company tried to lessen the blow to the Emerald City in a message posted online titled “Seattle is our home.”
“We’re proud of our past, and focused on the future. A future where Starbucks is stronger, more resilient, and more deeply rooted in the communities we serve – including our hometown of Seattle,” the post read.
CEO Brian Niccol has announced a massive restructuring of the company.
CBS News cites stock market estimates that 500 stores will close in North America, though no others have been formally announced.
Starbucks told KIRO 7 that 900 corporate employees will be laid off.
Niccol claims the company will try to relocate people laid off in stores, but the call to employees said otherwise.
“Unfortunately, we will not be able to deploy you to another Starbucks store,” the call said.
“I’m glad [Niccol] gets to have his homes and his private planes and we’re jobless,” Thomas said. “It just goes to show they never cared about us as partners at all.”
The call said employees will get 60 days of pay and benefits through Dec. 5.
Jacobs describes the location as “iconic.” Thomas says groups of tourists make a point of coming to the Reserve Roastery.
“People are getting off their cruise ships knowing that they were going to come to the Roastery and it’s not here anymore,” Thomas said.
People living in Capitol Hill stopped throughout the day on Thursday to take pictures of the freshly boarded-up store. Some questioned if it was vandalized, learning in disbelief that the signature store was actually closed.
Several groups of tourists stopped at the store on Thursday, some for a $60 tasting reservation they had not yet been refunded for.
“I’m disappointed because I’ve read all about this place and I’ve heard I had to get here if I came of Seattle,” said David, traveling from Ohio for the Buckeyes-Huskies game.
Kausha Deo was visiting from Vancouver. He saw the news about Starbucks restructuring, but was surprised the store was closed.
“I didn’t think it was going to be anything tangible immediately,” Deo said. “It hits the workers here. I think that’s the saddest part of the whole thing for sure, seeing the look on their faces.
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