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(Image: Seattle Coffee Works)

Pike/Pine is down a coffee shop. Only weeks after announcing it had acquired the Seattle Coffee Works chain including the E Pike cafe, Victrola Coffee says it decided to shut down the Capitol Coffee Works store, opting to continue plans it says were already in motion under the previous owners.

Vibe Coffee Group head Dan Ollis said the Coffee Works ownership’s “instinct to close this location was correct and I followed a similar path.”

Friday was the shop’s final day of business. The 907 E Pike storefront now awaits a new tenant.

While Capitol Hill and Pike/Pine remains a cafe-rich environment, you’ll need to walk beyond the intersection of Broadway and Pike.

The intersection’s Starbucks closed during the pandemic and its large cafe space also remains empty.

CHS reported here in May on the Vibe and Victrola acquisition of the small Coffee Works chain. Born on 15th Ave E, Victrola was acquired by Ollis and his Whidbey Coffee company in 2008 from founders Chris Sharp and Jen Strongin. In 2018, the company moved its roasting operations off E Pike and expanded production in Lynnwood. At the time, Ollis said existing Coffee Works locations would remain open.

While Vibe will shutter its newest venue on Capitol Hill, it is also following through on another Coffee Works plan. The new Cascade Coffee Works location in South Lake Union opened as the E Pike cafe shuttered.

Victrola has three locations in Seattle including the 15th Ave E original, an E Pike cafe in lower Pike/Pine, and the downtown cafe in The Bon Marche building. Currently open Coffee Works locations include the Cascade cafe and a location in Ballard. The Pine cafe a few blocks toward the market from Victrola’s downtown location is also set to reopen after a long closure in coming weeks.

CHS is told employees at the Capitol Coffee Works locations were offered the opportunity to take new jobs, including shifts at the new South Lake Union cafe.

HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
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