After nearly five years in business, Harbour Coffee in New Town closed last week after owners John and Barbara Stein just didn’t get the business they needed to stay open.
“We’re set up in a small corner of the world over here,” Barbara Stein said of their store. “It’s time to do something different. It’s time to move on. The people are amazing here, and we were so blessed with the relationships we have here.”
The Steins, who own the space currently occupied by Harbour Coffee, hope to sell or lease it to another business. In the meantime, they plan to help facilitate the construction of a church in Serbia.
“We’ve had five years, and it’s just not working,” John Stein said. “There’s not enough foot traffic.”
Harbour Coffee was set in a more secluded part of New Town, away from Main Street and its bigger businesses.
“The coffee business and this corner of the area are not busy enough,” Barbara Stein said.
John Stein said they had explored moving the business, but the area was not suited to that. He said many of the property owners at other shopping areas were reluctant to rent out space to small businesses as they preferred large corporations that could guarantee rent each month.
“They know that if you’re a national brand you won’t miss the rent,” John Stein said. “If you’re small, you can’t guarantee the rent.”
John Stein said that between the state of Virginia being unfriendly to small business and the property owners who do not want to rent space to small businesses, it’s difficult for a small business to get its foot in the door much less thrive.
At the location in New Town, there was a lack of foot traffic that cut into the business. John Stein said Harbour Coffee was open full time for the first three years it was open, but that a lack of traffic in the afternoon and evenings caused them to shorten their hours.
In the past, the Steins had explored sharing Harbour Coffee’s space with another business. They were interested in letting a Hookah Lounge set up shop in the space, but that plan fell through in March 2012. You can read more about that by clicking here.
The building where Harbour Coffee is located, the Boulevard Building, is governed by a condo association. The Steins have one vote, and at the time the lounge fell through, the remaining votes were held by real estate agent Larry Salzman who voted against the lounge because the building’s insurance company said it would not offer liability insurance for the outside areas of the building if the lounge moved in.
You can order Harbour Coffee from their website by clicking here. John Stein said local pickup is still an option if you order the coffee online.
