Starbucks Corporation's global headquarters is located in Seattle, Washington.
The headquarters complex is known as Starbucks Center and occupies a former Sears distribution center in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood. Starbucks moved into the building in 1997, helping turn the site into a major corporate and community landmark.
Starbucks began in Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1971, when Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker opened the first store. The company originally sold coffee beans and equipment before expanding into the coffeehouse model that made the brand internationally famous.
The first Starbucks store still operates near Pike Place Market, although its exact presentation and visitor experience differ from ordinary company-operated cafés. Portland is a prominent coffee city, and Bellevue is another major Washington business center, but neither is Starbucks' global-headquarters city. Seattle's role is both corporate and historical.