Starbucks Is Closing How Many Stores Due to Crime Threats?

The world's largest coffee stand chain will be shuttering 16 stores due to what officials say are crime and safety issues. Nearly half are in the Puget Sound area.

   Five stores in Seattle one in Everett to close

 MyNorthwest.com is reporting Wednesday that six Seattle-Everett area stores will shutter due to crime issues. According to CEO Howard Schultz, in a statement released for the company:

“Today, we find ourselves in a position where we must modernize and transform the Starbucks experience in our stores and recreate an environment that is relevant, welcoming, and safe, and where we uplift one another with dignity, respect, and kindness. We need to reinvent Starbucks for the future. And to be successful, it will take our collective courage to begin again.”

MyNorthwest reports the six Puget Sound area stores have had several store partners (owners-operators) file reports about concerns over crime and employee safety.

MyNorthwest said Starbucks did not provide any statistical data about these stores but said these are the Seattle outlets that will close soon:

• 1600 E Olive Way
• 2300 S Jackson
• 400 Pine
• 6417 Roosevelt Way NE
• 505 5th Ave S

Some Starbucks stores have unionized, but officials with the company say that's had nothing to do with the safety filings or closures. Some of the stores that will close are unionized, some are non-union.

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Seattle has seen some of its locations suffer significant damage, especially during the last two years of unrest that included CHOP in 2020. The stores in Puget Sound that are closing will be done by the end of July, workers can transfer to other locations.