Camden Coffee Company, formerly located at Humboldt and 44th Ave. N. was sold to a sole proprietor last year. Prior to the sale the business had been quite profitable, in touch with the community and very popular. The new owner, having refused multiple offers of help from the former owners and having no experience in the industry, assumed an expertise she apparently did not possess and literally changed everything overnight, much to the horror of her customers. She appeared to have the view that every penny in the cash drawer was hers and if you are in business, that is a fatal mistake. Customer service completely evaporated, the prices took a dramatic jump, the quality of products went down and the customers went away. When customers would make a comment about the changes, her reply was reportedly, "If you don't like the way I do things you don't have to come back." Guess what? THEY DIDN'T. Many times the shop was closed with no apparent reason during posted "open" hours. The new owner stopped paying her rent, stopped paying her vendors, and the shop remained empty of customers. A demand for rent was sent and the next week the doors were locked on December 29, 2000. Since then many vendors, the rent and utilities have not been paid. Nothing has been able to re-open in the location due to legal issues and the eviction. To further complicate the issues, the new owner started operating under the name of Jitters Cafe which was already registered to another company and was an obvious name infringement. Eventually you will see another business in the location but as the property owner, we can not say what type of business this would be until a lease is signed. It's for sure that the case study on this business shows how someone without any business skills, refusal of aid/education from the former owners and a poor sense of the customer can drive a business into closure in less than four months. On a related note, our price for a simple cup of coffee with unlimited refills was under $1 (including tax) and senior citizens (of which there are many in the area) received a lower price. Very few of our prepared drinks were $3 or higher in price. As for Camden being a lower income urban area, the demographics show the income to be higher than many believe it to be. The 1995 update to the area demographics showed the average income for the area to be over $31,000 and since then it has gone up. >>On a related note, do any list members know the status of the >>recently closed coffee shop on the corner of Humboldt and 44th Ave >>N, Camden Coffee House I believe it's called? There's another at >>Penn and 44th Ave N (former Baskin Robbins)that looks as if it may >>be closing its doors as well. I agree that $3.00-plus coffee isn't a >>big draw in lower income urban neighborhoods. It's a shame but it's >>a reality. Chris Pluchinsky Webber-Camden _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
