On Monday, July 29th, King Street Coffee, a coffee shop in downtown Leesburg, closed to the surprise of its many patrons. A shop known as The Coffee Bean of Leesburg was founded in 1986, but eventually became King Street Coffee in 2010. It was run by former barista Sam Kayser who also has a second coffee shop, Lone Oak Coffee Company, in Winchester Virginia.
The website for the coffee place describes itself as “a specialty coffee shop that prides itself on serving up delicious, traditional espresso drinks.” And true to their claims, many Leesburg locals found it a favorite spot and King Street Coffee was a successful business. Until late July when Kayser posted a message to Instagram announcing the closure of the location.
In her post, Kayser says,”To be clear, I absolutely never wanted King Street Coffee to close and had no idea it ever would.” She goes on to explain that she had been looking to sell the location to “someone who loved it, turnkey, no disruption to staff, and no inconvenience to the customers.” But then Kayser goes on to say that “unfortunately, I trusted people I should not have and will now be putting all physical assets of King Street Coffee in a storage unit; the fate of the business to be determined…” The many regulars and frequent visitors were shocked when they learned about the abrupt closure.
Dr. Wade Baker, a King Street Coffee regular for nearly seventeen years, explained that he had heard the news from his wife and other patrons very close to the business. He was informed that King Street was going to sell the shop but keep the name and employees the same. He goes on to say that “someone even had put forth a proposal, a contract to buy it,… but they never signed it.” According to Baker, the present owner had been asking the people interested in buying the business when they were going to sign the document and how long it would take. “Unbeknownst to her [the owner],” Baker continues “The company that was going to buy it went to the owner of the building because the previous owner’s lease was almost up and basically took over the lease.” Baker also added that they “never bought the business, never paid her money, but just took over the lease which sort of forced King Street Coffee out.”
While what Second Nature Coffee Co. did was perfectly legal, it still came as a shock to the faithful customers and many have not supported the new business that is operating in the location. That being said, many local reviewers have accepted the change and so far Second Nature Coffee Co. is thriving. We can only wonder if this company will have as long standing of an effect as its predecessor.
