Leslie Coffee Company owner Sarah Leslie said the reason she decided to close her shop at the end of the year ultimately comes down to money.
With inflation and other economic factors, she said small businesses are struggling.
“Those dollars are going … right to people,” Leslie said. “The small business owners want to hear from you. They’re engaged in the community in a way that like no chain ever could be.”
The nationally recognized shop was also known for helping others, including the unhoused. It also had a community fridge that provided food to people in need.
The new owners of the space when Leslie leaves, Pennant Coffee, say they don’t plan to keep it.
Leslie said she’s looking for a space to move the fridge to.
“It’s a resource that is used for sure,” Leslie said. “Transitioning the unhoused community … through the close, I think is going to be tough. Especially because it's the winter months.
“It's hard because people really rely on this as a space that they can come and warm up.”
Leslie is a single mom and said she wants to spend more time taking care of her mental health and with her son.
“I'm sure a lot of parents, not just single parents, but parents will feel this,” she said, “like, I wake up, we get ready and come to work, I get him to school, I come back to work, I leave work to go get him. And then it's like … there's never a break.”
While the transition occurs, Leslie encourages people to support small businesses.
“I understand the appeal of convenience. And I understand that sometimes price is the determining factor,” Leslie said. “But ... we really have to choose businesses with our dollars, or we won't have any to go to anymore.”
Pennant Coffee, which also includes Good Company Taps and Spirits and Fox & Ash barbershop, will move into the space. The businesses are all currently located in Revolutsia in central Wichita.
Owner Caleb Porter says the new location in Delano will serve as a second location for the cocktail bar and barbershop, but the coffee operation will move to the new space.
“I feel like we have great coffee across Wichita and losing Leslie’s on that side [of town] … it'd be sad to not see it continue,” Porter said.
Porter said they’re aiming for an opening date for the coffee and barber shop early next year, with the cocktail bar opening after they get the proper paperwork.
“We’re really passionate about local businesses in general,” Porter said. “That's what gives our city its heart and soul is our local business group and without local businesses we’d look just like every other city that you would see with chains and stuff like that.”
