SoCo Coffee House. Photo by Carol Toler.
If you visited SoCo Coffee House and Bistro this week, count yourself lucky. The popular gathering spot in Lakeridge Village permanently closed this morning.
“It is with a VERY heavy heart that we have decided to close SoCo,” owners Jonny Bean and Charles Bader wrote on social media. “We ask that people respect our decision and let us finalize the closure in a timely manner without disruption. We are grateful for those who supported us through the last 4 years and we wish we could have continued but unfortunately the last few months have been very difficult and frustrating with the lack of business coming through our doors.”
SoCo first opened in 2019 in the southern half of its current footprint, offering coffee and pastries in the morning, salads and sandwiches at lunchtime. By May of 2022, they doubled in size to take in the adjoining space on the north end, offering heavier dinner fare and a bistro vibe well into evening hours.
“The new side will be tailored to our dinner customers,” Bean said during construction of the new space. “We’ll have low lighting and bar seating, and we’ll focus on our adult visitors. The (brighter south side) will be focused on families.”
Like many in their industry, Bean said the pandemic disrupted business, and he struggled to recover both customers and employees.
“Those of us in the restaurant business keep wondering where everybody went,” he said in 2022.
You may leave a message for the owners on their Facebook page here.
