Phoenix Coffee's Warehouse District Location Closes This Weekend

The other downtown spot on East 9th remains open with expanded hours Credit: Google Maps

Phoenix Coffee will downsize its portfolio by one this weekend when it closes the Warehouse District location on St. Clair.

The employee-owned cooperative coffee company, founded in Lakewood in 1991, will extend the hours of its other downtown shop on East 9th from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. next week in response to the closure.

“We’ve made the unfortunate decision to close our Warehouse District cafe, effective March 31st,” a sign on the door reads. “This was a decision made based on a combination of factors.”

Employees of that spot, which opened in 2017 and was the company’s second go-round in the neighborhood, will remain with the company and work at other locations.

Phoenix transitioned to an employee-owned model in 2020 with financial assistance by the Fund for Employee Ownership of the Evergreen Cooperatives, a Cleveland nonprofit dedicated to preserving jobs and revitalizing neighborhoods through collective ownership.

“Our idea isn’t a radical one,” company managers said in a statement at the time. “We want to create safe, sustainable, liveable middle-class jobs. We want to be part of our communities and contribute to those communities not only through our company’s presence but by being members: buying homes, starting families and living our values.”

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