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The Starbucks location at Fourth and T streets in Eureka, which opened exactly a year ago today, will close permanently at the end of business hours tomorrow, according to employees at the store.

Starbucks recently announced plans to close hundreds of stores across North America, eliminating close to 900 jobs. The Seattle-based company has not disclosed an official list of the stores that will be shuttered, but unionized employees with Starbucks Workers United have helped to assemble a public Google sheet of expected closure locations. As of this writing the sheet has 498 entries, including one for this Starbucks at 1906 Fourth Street in Eureka.

“Yes, it’s true,” said a barista who answered the phone when we called the store this afternoon. The employee, who declined to give her name, said she and her coworkers learned the news yesterday or at the start of their shifts today. Saturday will be the store’s final day open to customers, and Sunday will be employees’ last day on the job, she said.

“We will find out on Sunday whether we’re getting a transfer to another store or a severance package,” the Eureka barista said. She explained that company management will choose the location for any employee transfers, and workers who decline to accept their selected relocation will not receive a severance package.

“I’m telling you [about the closure] because I don’t expect to get a severance package,” she said.

The barista provided the name of her district manager, Vernon Costa, who oversees stores in Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity Counties. Reached by phone and asked about the pending closure, Costa said, “I can’t make any comments on the location.”

He provided us with a media hotline number. A message left at that number had not been returned by the time this post was published. 

We’re not sure how many locals frequented this freeway-adjacent box of a store, but if you are a huge Starbucks fan, don’t fret: Eureka will still have four Starbucks locations after this weekend:

• 326 Fifth Street,
• 2411 Broadway Street (the new one next to Wing Stop),
• 2555 Harris Street (inside the Safeway, and technically just outside city limits), and
• 2525 Fourth Street (inside Target)

Also, lots and lots of locally owned coffee shops.