Kirk Bethel, owner of Spin, recently posted a comment on our original post about the closing of Spin.  I wanted to share it with you, in case you do not come across it otherwise.

Thanks for reaching out to the neighborhood, Kirk.

Kirk April 21, 2011 at 11:20 pm

It’s been a couple of months and I so wish we could have said good-bye to all of our customers and friends on the Avenue. It was a very hard decision and the sudden closing was the only option we had. On behalf of my family, I want to thank everyone who supported us in our efforts to keep things going.

Sadly, we just couldn’t continue to lose money much less put money into improvements. With a 45% increase in green coffee prices in 8 months, our decision was unavoidable. Final nail, so to speak.

I’m excited for the folks at Boulder Coffee Company who are remodeling and will open in 5 or 6 weeks. I wish them well and hope everyone will support the new shop. Of course it won’t be Spin Coffee Roasters coffee but it will be better than any chain coffee could even hope for.

Thank you all for your kind words.

A little background:

For those of you who don’t know, there was a little neighborhood grassroots effort to emphasize the importance of a community gathering spot like what Spin provided.  A lot of people personally spoke with Tom.  And Buckingham neighbor, Michael Brown, presented a letter to him in support of renting the space to a business that would still provide a gathering place and what the signatories of the letter would be willing to do to support it.  Adam and I were among the 18 people who signed the letter.  (If anyone is interested in seeing the letter, let me know.)

We all know and respect that Tom’s primary focus will be finding a tenant that is financially stable.  We do, however, think it is extremely important for him to know that his decisions have an impact on the neighborhood, so he will choose a tenant that fits the character of our beloved Park Ave.   He was very open to our ideas and appreciative that we took the time to talk with him and draft a supportive letter (thanks again, Michael).

Things we have heard:

• Tom was inundated with interested tenants.  He removed the “for rent” sign while he was on his previously planned vacation, because he would not be able to field more calls.
• Tom plans to ask for formal proposals and will make a decision when he returns.
• Boulder coffee is moving in.  Yes, Boulder was one of the many businesses that looked at the property, but no decision has been made.  Michael was in Boulder today and they do not have any news.
• We have heard from many sources that Tom’s inclination is to have another coffee shop or cafe in that spot.

So, there you have it.  We don’t really have any concrete news.  But we rallied to let Tom know how important that spot is to us.

In the meantime, if anyone is interested in opening up a coffee stand in their front yard, there will be lots of takers.