Photo by Kevin HarberIf you’ve spent any time hopping from cafe to cafe during the workday, chances are you’ve heard that Mid City Caffe will stop pouring caffeine on October 1.
According to a statement released by general manager Jeffrey Lamoureux, multiple reasons contributed to the closing, including: “limited accessibility restricted morning commuter and daytime foot-traffic, and while the café was blessed with a coterie of dedicated regulars, ultimately the volume simply was not there.” Lamoureux also alludes to the fact that the 14th/U Street corridor has skewed nocturnal, catering to the post business hours crowd.
Not mentioned in the statement — what probably is the biggest killer of small businesses in the city — a massive rent hike by the property owners. Lamoureux confirms that a quadrupling of the per-square-footage rent of the building, owned by the Powell family and leased by Miss Pixie’s Furnishings, is a significant factor for the closure. While the cafe could have stayed open until the rent increase takes effect in March, the confluence of low business volume nailed the coffin shut on Mid City. As for Miss Pixie’s, which has already gone through a number of moves, the store is healthy enough to stay put through the end of the lease and perhaps longer.
Mid City Cafe will be open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. October 1, its last day. Below is the press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, DC – September 22, 2011
Mid City Caffé to Close October 1, 2011
Logan Circle’s Mid City Caffe has announced that it will be closing for business.
The final day of normal operation will be September 30, 2011 with limited hours of operation on October 1. The café was opened in 2009 by a pair of entrepreneurs who turned the interior of the former auto-body shop into a comfortable environment for the neighborhood’s residents to work, relax and socialize.
Unfortunately, the second-story location outside the downtown core proved underperforming. Limited accessibility restricted morning commuter and daytime foot-traffic, and while the café was blessed with a coterie of dedicated regulars, ultimately the volume simply was not there.
Known particularly as a gathering place for the neighborhood’s freelancers and creative professionals, Mid City Caffe proudly served coffee from Counter Culture
Coffee and Caffe Pronto prepared by an expertly trained staff. The café’s closing will leave a gap in the expanding, but nightlife-focused, Fourteenth Street corridor.
It has been a pleasure to serve the Logan Circle neighborhood and to be apart of the city’s burgeoning specialty coffee scene. While the ownership and staff are excited to move on to other opportunities, they will miss their devoted customers.
Contact:
Jeffrey Lamoureux
General Manager
Mid City Caffe
1626 14th St, NW Washington, DC 20009
Email: Jeffrey@midcitycaffe.com
