Legendary Starbucks ‘Willy Wonka’ Roast House Closes in Seattle

When it opened in 2011, the legendary Starbucks Reserve Roasting House was referred to as the Willy Wonka of coffee roasting. Now, it's boarded up.

  Starbucks closes historical flagship coffee roasting facility as part of job cuts

 Geekwire and other sources are reporting Starbucks is making another round of job cuts, in an effort to streamline and regain its peak of the coffee market share.

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Located at 1124 Pike Street, the Reserve House was full of incredible tech, and was given the Wonka name by former CEO Howard Schultz shortly after it opened. The coffee giant has numerous bean roasting facilities, but none were like this.

Inside the building was an amazing amount of Wonka-like tech. According to Geekwire:

"Technology was packed into the space, from sensors that prevented cross contamination of coffee beans to a 4K projector that showed footage of Starbucks’ coffee farms on a smart glass window display. "

However, the facility was closed this week, as of Thursday, the building was already boarded up.  CEO Brian Niccol, who has been tasked with trying to pull the company out of its malaise, announced 900 non-retail workers will be let go, and they're going to close under-performing shops in the US and Canada.

This comes after Starbucks' biggest-ever single layoff, 1,100 corporate workers in February.

Over the last few years, business experts say the coffee giant has taken hits from increased competition, especially at the local and regional level, they've lost their niche as a "cozy" comfortable place to hang out and drink coffee. They've also struggled with what's been called a confusing menu, and organizational issues. Some also blame declining service.

Add to that the growing labor issues, as several times, workers at stores in different cities have attempted to unionize.