Petit Pierre Bakery is building a 40-seat French café inside a former Starbucks at 2200 NW Market St. in Ballard. The bakery is one of at least six local businesses filling spaces Starbucks left behind across Seattle.

Starbucks announced Thursday, Sept. 24, that it will close about 250 North American stores, including two in Seattle. The closures follow 627 stores shuttered across North America and Europe last year under CEO Brian Niccol, who joined the company in 2024. Starbucks expects to take $300 million in restructuring charges, KOMO News reported.

The two Seattle stores closing in this round are at 999 NW Leary Way in Ballard and 1700 7th Ave. in the Nordstrom Building downtown, according to a reported list compiled by American Bazaar citing 13WTHR. Starbucks has not released an official complete list.

But the closures are creating openings for smaller operators. Pierre Poulin, co-owner of Petit Pierre Bakery, told KING 5 that a friend in Ballard spotted the listing for the former Starbucks at 2200 NW Market St. and tipped him off. Poulin spent time in the neighborhood and talked with nearby business owners before committing.

"Every time I go back on site, I see people taking pictures of the poster we put on the window and are curious about who we are," Poulin said.

The space sat empty for a year. Starbucks occupied it for 13 years before closing in September 2025. The building, owned by CKM Associates LLP, is also home to Smålt Market, Secret Garden Books and Ballard Health Club. My Ballard first reported the bakery's plans in July.

Poulin and co-owner Joanna Chau bought Petit Pierre in 2020 from its founders, Parisian transplants Laure and Alex Le Benoist, who opened the original Magnolia shop in 2015. Chau and Poulin expanded to Phinney Ridge in 2022. Seattle Magazine named Petit Pierre the city's best bakery in 2025.

The Ballard location will be the bakery's third permanent shop. It will allow Petit Pierre to start baking bread in-house for the first time, including sourdough loaves and baguettes. The Magnolia kitchen lacks room for bread production, so the bakery currently sources its bread locally. The new space will also feature weekend brunch and some table service.

Poulin, who trained at L'École de Paris des Métiers de la Table and worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in France and New York, is targeting the beginning of March 2027 for the opening.

The Ballard conversion fits a citywide pattern. Narrative Coffee has moved into a former Starbucks at 6th and Stewart downtown. Coffee TAB took a space at 23rd and Jackson. Anchorhead landed in West Seattle, Moment Coffee in Fremont and The Groundskeeper near Seattle Center, according to a post by Joe Veyera on X.

Café Besalu, Ballard's longtime French bakery, closed in 2023 after 23 years. Chau told My Ballard in July that customers had been asking about a Ballard location, noting that French pastry options in the neighborhood thinned after Besalu's departure.

Starbucks said it will look for opportunities to transfer workers at closing stores to other locations. Employees who cannot be placed will receive severance support. COO Mike Grams said in a letter to employees that the company plans to complete 1,500 store renovations by Sept. 30, the end of its fiscal year. Despite the closures, The Seattle Times reported Starbucks has posted four straight quarters of sales growth.