Eat At Joe's is apparently moving up in the world: we got our first press release today. Alas, the news was for ill: Broad Street Coffee Roasters is closing its doors. Here's the scoop from Our Man On Pettigrew Street:
After nearly 25 years of serving the Research Triangle Area and the Southeastern US, the venerable Broad Street Coffee Roasters closed its doors on Friday, October 22. Originally founded in the 1980s, Broad Street Coffee Roasters pioneered the specialty coffee industry in the Southeast; its founder and President, Larry Hayes, was one of the earliest presidents of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, the major trade group for gourmet coffees. At one time Broad Street Coffee Roasters was the largest supplier of specialty coffee in North Carolina, and many of the Triangle's most famous restaurants opened with it. Originally started in Carrboro, NC, Broad Street Coffee Roasters has filled the Downtown Durham, NC area for the last ten years with the intoxicating aroma of roasting coffee.
Terry Mancour, former VP of Broad Street Coffee Roasters, cited "unavoidable circumstances" that forced the closing. While not naming specifics, he mentioned last year's closing of Fowler's [now re-opened -- Ed.], as well as a dramatic increase in competition and higher transportation and health care costs, as factors in the decision. "We're not happy with this outcome, but we did everything we could to stay open. We fought the good fight, against overwhelming odds and brutal competition, and in the end we just didn't have what was needed to survive. In a way, we are a victim of our own success: most of our major competitors are former Broad Street people. I want to thank the thousands of customers and consumers who have expressed their support and given us their business over the years. Broad Street was a genuine Triangle institution, and it kills me that it's over."
