After more than eight years, the coffee shop, bike shop and bar of Denver Bicycle Cafe will shut their doors for good, co-owner Jessica Caouette confirmed Sunday.
Denver Bicycle Cafe will close at the end of October while Tandem Bar might remain open a little longer, Caouette said.
She blamed the closure on a combination of slower-than-usual summer sales, sidewalk closures from nearby construction and rent increases on the 17th Avenue building in City Park West (also known as Uptown). The landlord was "unwilling to have a conversation with us" about changing the business model at the cafe, she told Denverite.
"Running a small business is always difficult, and with major changes in the neighborhood due to construction disruptions, as well as a restrictive lease, it has become impossible to make ends meet and sustain the Bike Shop and Cafe," Caouette posted on the business's website. "Sadly, this is a common story in Denver neighborhoods these days."
A large apartment building is going up across the street from the cafe that Caouette hoped would bring a captive audience. Instead, she says construction delays and closures curbed foot traffic and helped do in her businesses.
Maybe you're one of the patio people at the Bike Cafe. Maybe you're one of the work-from-homers buried in your laptop who closes it when the coffee shop mercifully turns the WiFi off at 5 p.m. Maybe you meet up to converse in French at Tandem Bar next door, or to belly up for a $2 happy hour beer.
Whatever you went there for, you have a limited time to get back there and do it one or two or 10 last times. Caouette will throw a goodbye party Nov. 1. Before then, customers can get up to half-off on merchandise.
Caouette said she will stay in Denver's hospitality scene, one way or another.
"I'll close this bar. We'll store some stuff, sell a bunch of stuff and walk away from the space," she said. "Maybe I'll manage somebody else's place. Maybe I'll have an opportunity to open another one."
