January 08, 2015
From Facebook/for PhillyVoice
The coffee shop's counter will serve its last cup of joe on Jan. 16.
Sad news: The Lola Bean, which opened in September 2010 at 1325 Frankford Ave., will close up shop on Jan. 16.
The full, emotion-heavy rundown from The Lola Bean's Facebook page:
"It is with heavy hearts and minds that we have decided to close The Lola Bean for business. This was a very difficult decision to come to, and we can’t imagine that there would ever feel a right time to make this choice. We have been given such a gift in being part of this amazing community of people, not only as residents of Fishtown, but as business owners. Each one of you that has come into our shop has been part of making our dreams a reality, as years of planning on paper became a real place of community, coffee, and friendship. It's been an incredible experience watching the neighborhood and specifically our little slice of Frankford Ave. evolve, and we are proud to have been the first ones to carve out the block. We thank you for joining us on this journey; supporting us, encouraging us, and making us part of your lives. We would especially like to thank our awesome staff who have stood by us, worked hard, and treated our customers well. We are blessed to be able to call them friends, not just employees. Now we have decided it's time to focus on our family, our beautiful son who brings us endless joy, and our future ventures. Our last day of business will be January 16th. We hope to see many of you in person as that date approaches. Our everlasting gratitude is yours.Mary, Erica & Walker and of course the big loss, Lola"
(Side note: In case anyone is wondering, Lola is their dog.)
Philly.com's Michael Klein first reported the news, citing the La Colombe that opened in September at 1335 Frankford Ave. as the "800-pound gorilla in the room."
But it's more like the 11,000-square-foot gorilla in the room.
The massive building and operation, according to this Eater Philly report, nears levels of ridiculousness in its amount of offerings: a rum distillery; a food menu with sandwiches, salads, skillets and oddball items like chicken liver mousse; and -- duh -- an expansive selection of coffee. (One thing missing that Lola Bean did have, though: Wi-Fi . Womp womp.)
PhillyVoice.com reached out to owners Erica Zito and Mary Button, but did not hear back as of press time.
