Starbucks employees on TikTok react to losing their jobs as hundreds of stores suddenly close: ‘We deserve better’

Hundreds of Starbucks baristas across the country have been left without jobs, following the coffeehouse’s recently announced decision to close 1% of its stores — roughly 400, in total — in North America this month.

The move to shutter these locations, according to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, is part of a larger $1 billion restructuring plan. The coffee chain will also be laying off 900 corporate employees as a result.

“Each year, we open and close coffeehouses for a variety of reasons, from financial performance to lease expirations. This is a more significant action that we understand will impact partners and customers. Our coffeehouses are centers of the community, and closing any location is difficult,” Niccol said in a statement.

Niccol said that there is a protocol in place to transfer some employees to nearby Starbucks locations that are still in operation, though “comprehensive severance packages” will be made available for employees who cannot “immediately” be placed.

Baristas, many of whom say they were given little or no warning about the closures, have turned to TikTok to cope with the turn of events. On the video-sharing platform, Starbucks employees who’ve either lost or will soon be losing their jobs are sharing everything from tear-filled reactions to the news to final embraces with their favorite coworkers.

On Thursday, a barista named Maddison posted a video on TikTok in which she said she was blindsided by the news. The video shows Maddison wearing her Starbucks apron and headset as tears run down her face.

“We deserve better, and I’m sorry for every barista going through it right now too,” she captioned the video.

Maddison’s video has been met with solidarity from other Starbucks baristas. One barista commented, “They gave me a 2 day notice yesterday and now I have to show up to my 9 hour shift like it’s nothing. When I might be laid off on Sunday. … This is absolutely terrible. My coworkers are going to lose their houses and cars from this.”

Lauren, a Starbucks employee at a Washington State location, also posted a video to TikTok on Thursday, in which she’s seen hugging her coworker. “Starbucks permanently closing my store and leaving us jobless was not on my 2025 bingo card,” she wrote alongside the clip.

Another Starbucks barista named Halie posted on Thursday that she too learned that the store where she had been working full-time would be closing this weekend. Whether or not she’ll be transferred to another location is still unknown.

“Went from 40 hours next week to our store closing permanently Saturday. I’ll know in 3 days if I’m being transferred or terminated. … Thanks briannnnnn!” she wrote, referring to Niccol.

In the comments on Halie’s post, fellow TikTokers have urged her to keep an eye on her paycheck. “Don’t forget to put in sick and vacation time!!!!! Keep track of that paycheck!!” read one comment, which received nearly 21,000 likes. Added another user, “PARTNERS, as a store manager, USE YOUR SICK AND VACATION TIME!!!”

Among the suddenly closed locations is the famed Starbucks Reserve Roastery in the Seattle neighborhood of Capitol Hill. The Roastery was a popular tourist attraction in the city and was located just nine blocks away from the original Starbucks store at 1912 Pike Place. According to one TikToker, several customers — and even a handful of employees — arrived at the Seattle coffee shop on Thursday to see the windows boarded up and doors closed shut. They were unaware that the location had permanently closed.

Katie, a former employee at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Seattle, said, “It’s no shocker that they closed, and it’s also no shocker that you thought Starbucks was going to care enough to give you a heads-up. They’ve never given anyone a heads-up when closing a store.”

Starbucks Workers United, the union that represents 12,000 baristas across 45 states and the District of Columbia, said that it was seeking information from Starbucks about the planned closures following Niccol’s announcement.

“Workers United is sending a formal request for information to Starbucks about the planned closures. We expect to engage in effects bargaining for every impacted union store, as we have done elsewhere, so workers can be placed in another Starbucks store according to their preferences,” reads the statement from Thursday. “It has never been more clear why baristas at Starbucks need the backing of a union. We’re demanding Starbucks finalize a fair union contract with 12,000 union baristas.”