Seattle's newly elected mayor advised its citizens not to buy the product of one of its iconic businesses last November: Starbucks coffee. She walked back her comment later, but it could symbolize an unfriendly trend toward financial supports of the city.
Starbucks originated and is still headquartered there. They made no response to the mayor but they're still planning a partial move to Nashville TN to open a second business hub. They will invest ~$100 million in the new hub and employ about 2,000 by 2031.
The coffee company is not alone in withdrawing some of their presence. Office vacancies around the country average about 17%, but downtown Seattle has vacancies of 36%. The city has lost the confidence of some of the business community.
Since 2018, 465 company headquarters have moved elsewhere, mostly tech and manufacturing. The massive Boeing left the city back in 2001. Amazon has vacated a million square feet of office space since 2020.
Where do they go?
(cont'd tomorrow)
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