Some Starbucks employees said their goodbyes Wednesday on their last day of work.

Nearly 1,370 Starbucks employees, including 300 in the Seattle headquarters, packed up Wednesday and left their jobs for the last time.

Approximately 870 assistant store managers were notified their positions are being eliminated Wednesday, along with 500 non-store partners from work groups in the U.S. and Canada, Starbucks said.

The layoffs are part of the coffee company's effort to cut costs by closing stores and eliminating jobs.

Some workers are being offered other jobs and those that are laid-off are being given separation pay, benefits and help in looking for a new job.

In an e-mail to all employees, Chet Kuchinad, an executive vice president, said the layoffs are necessary given the economy and "critical to ensuring we have a sustainable and successful business going forward."

Employees not being laid off will meet with leaders over the next week to "map out" Starbucks' future, he said.

When Starbucks’ quarterly financial report was released in January, the company said it could cut as many as 6,700 jobs in all and 300 stores.

These stores are in addition to the approximately 600 U.S. and 61 Australian market store closures announced in July 2008.

The majority of the new store closures are expected to occur during the remainder of fiscal 2009.

CEO and company founder Howard Schultz, whose annual salary was most recently $1.2 million, has requested that his salary be reduced to less than 10,000 a year.