The corporate workers at Starbucks Center in SODO who were told to pack up and move to Nashville or lose their jobs have an answer: 120 of them chose to stay in Seattle and get laid off.

Starbucks is eliminating 224 positions effective Oct. 19, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification reviewed by The Seattle Times.

The cuts split into two groups: 120 corporate employees who declined relocation offers to the company's new Nashville office and 104 workers on a team that designs and builds Starbucks stores. The SODO campus has already lost 25% of its workforce since 2023, a decline felt by the restaurants, transit services and small vendors that built their customer base around thousands of badge holders walking out of 2401 Utah Ave. South each day.

This is the second round of 2026 cuts at Seattle's most iconic corporate employer. Starbucks eliminated 252 support center roles in May. Since February 2025, the company has shed more than 2,500 Washington-based employees across corporate and retail positions, according to state data.

"We're going to be unrelenting" on cuts, CEO Brian Niccol told investors in January, framing a $2 billion cost-savings mandate he set after becoming CEO in 2024.

Nashville expansion rattles state officials

Starbucks announced in March that it would open a 250,000-square-foot Nashville office housing up to 2,000 employees, a $100 million investment in Tennessee. The company said many Nashville roles would be new positions tied to future growth, while others would replace jobs currently handled in Seattle or by outside contractors.

That expansion has alarmed state leaders. A briefing prepared by Gov. Bob Ferguson's staff on April 10 described the Nashville move and continued Washington layoffs as raising "public questions about whether [Starbucks] is gradually shifting its center of gravity." Ferguson met with Niccol on April 15 for what his office called a "lengthy, direct one-on-one conversation."

Head count at Starbucks Center now sits at about 2,800, down from roughly 3,750 in 2023, according to the governor's briefing. The company's lease at the SODO campus runs through 2038 with no termination options, per a July 2026 Morningstar credit report.

Strong earnings, fewer workers

The cuts come as Starbucks posts its strongest results in years. Third-quarter revenue hit $9.3 billion, beating Wall Street expectations, with net earnings up 87% year over year to $1.05 billion.

Starbucks still employs approximately 10,790 Washingtonians across retail, roasting and corporate facilities, and operates 346 company-owned stores and 933 licensed locations statewide. The 224 layoffs will be completed by Nov. 1.