After getting back some comments on the picture below, I did some Googling. Ruh-roh …
Some of the remaining Peaberry Coffee Inc. stores in metro Denver appear to have closed.
Signs at the store at 621 17th St. in downtown Denver read: “Peaberry Coffee is now closed” and “Unfortunately, we are no longer able to serve you. We have appreciated you[r] patronage over the years. Thank you.”
I think that one was mine.
The phone wasn’t answered today at the Peaberry store at 3031 E. Second Ave. in Denver’s Cherry Creek North retail district.
A call to Peaberry Denver headquarters today was not returned, and the “Locations” page of the coffee company’s website — www.peaberrycoffee.com — was not available.
Yeah, that’s overall not a good sign. And the page is still down — in fact, it no longer shows up on the site menu.
Denver-based Peaberry Coffee is a coffee wholesaler and retailer. In 2006, the company shut down 11 metro-area stores and re-leased the space to Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX). The stores were located in Broomfield, Centennial, Denver, Glendale, Lakewood, Littleton, Parker and Wheat Ridge.
Ten franchise stores along the Front Range were to remain open.
At the time, the company said it was closing the corporate locations to focus on franchising and on retail bean sales.
Peaberry Coffee was started in Denver by Bill Tointon in 1990. In addition to selling its coffee at stores, the company also sells them online. Peaberry coffees include 58th Avenue Coffee and Office Coffee.
I wonder if the Peaberry card is good for online sales.
Darn — and I have a “free coffee” receipt in my wallet, too.
The store at S. Colorado Blvd. and Mexico was closed today, as well. The website is still up; I don’t know if a coke bottle caught in the lampshade is keeping it going.
Sad
Interestingly enough, aside from a 9News article ( http://www.9news.com/money/article.aspx?storyid=122482&catid=344 ) that doesn’t add any more detail. Nothing in the Denver Post, nothing on the Peaberry site.
It looks like they’re shifting into just bean sales (wholesale only, or retail?), as the online store is still working … but, clearly, nobody’s going to want to order something online until there’s some announcement about their brick-and-mortar presence.
A comment at the Bizjournal article notes “..,. the ‘Peaberry Coffee’ shop on Countyline & Yosemite in Centennial is remaining open under a different name.” Interesting.
I believe the Countyline & Yosemite store has been a franchise (as opposed to company-owned) store.
I note the web page still says, on the front (despite the lack of “Locations” on the menu): “And don’t forget to visit one of our retail locations, where all of our espresso-based beverages – including Bear drinks – are made with Socially Conscious Coffee!”
That’s pretty poor public relations.
tuesday and Wednesday when I drove by the Peaberry in Boulder, I had noticed that the big huge Peaberry sign was still up in front, but due to traffic, I was unsure if it was still open or not. On the way home today, while going to drop off dry cleaning, I could see that the huge Peaberry sign had been removed and a white tarp, ala Clerks, was up in its place with FLATIRONS COFFEE was hanging in its place and it was open an the tables out in front were full.
Peaberry website unchanged. They’re either out of business or fleeing the country or busy inventorying things to auction them off; no company doesn’t offer any sort of communication or press release about this major a change unless they have interest in continuing business.