A game of musical chairs is dancing across the coffee scene downtown. Old spots close, and then fresh spots open—often steps away from the aforementioned ones. This is perplexing. Why does one coffee shop close, and another coffee shop open nearby? We investigated the latest shutdowns and launches.

On the Downbeat

At a glance, it looks dire. Five downtown locations of the city’s better-known coffee brands—Barista, Coava, and Stumptown—all closed. Barista once operated three cafés south of Burnside, at Pine Street Market, on SW Third, and inside KOIN Tower; none remain. Stumptown announced last year that it was departing from the Ace Hotel, leaving its only downtown location on SW Third Avenue, home to rotating art shows, drink specials, and now security guards. And Coava behind the Portland Art Museum bid adieu last spring, citing “extreme violence and criminal activity.” This set off a flurry of press, making national news as an example of the city’s flailing downtown, though staffers told reporters that the location also wasn’t making enough money. Three Coava shops remain in Southeast.

A closer sniff indicates that the other closures relate to business machinations: Stumptown’s Ace Hotel location is not closing, but moving a block away to the new Residences at 11W. The announcement came amid Ace Hotel turmoil from wannabe-sole-owner Sortis Holdings, which planned to launch its own restaurant, Stone’s Throw, in an adjacent space. (Read more on Sortis here.) 

And Barista’s SW Third location shuttered due to a building bankruptcy, while the KOIN Tower shop—where you can still snag a perfect soy latte—transitioned to ownership by Roseline Coffee (along with the NE Alberta location) following legal action and the dissolution of a minority partnership. As for Barista’s Pine Street Market spot: it’s one of many food hall vendors to have turned over in the past few years. Barista’s locations in the Pearl District and on NW 23rd Avenue are bustling. 

On the Upbeat 

A triple shot of new coffee bars tell a sweeter side to the story. Owner-operator Joe Shum Seruto’s coffee cart, PDX Coffee Club, has perched on the second floor of SW Second Avenue’s Portland Food Hall since last summer. This is Shum Seruto’s first business, dedicated to a rotation of Portland coffee roasters. “I would say around 30 percent of my guests are visitors to the city, which is really exciting,” he tells me. His part of the food hall had been vacant since the start of the pandemic, and the landlord offered him an accordingly reasonable lease. “It’s a little hidden up here,” Shum Seruto says, “and that sense of discovery is fun.” 

Four blocks away, Ryan Jie Jiang is building a growing coffee brand at Less and More. He opened his original café in a rehabbed bus shelter on SW Fifth Avenue two years ago, and the shop’s unique design and outstanding original drinks (order the black sesame latte) established Less and More as a new destination on the Portland café scene. In 2023 he doubled down, opening a second location in a former Water Avenue Coffee. “One of our regular customers actually told me about this opportunity,” Jie Jiang says, “and the building was so excited to have us come in.” This second location focuses on meticulous pour-over coffee service, and highlights the nuance and quality in Less and More’s approach to coffee roasting. “We’re starting to see more foot traffic now,” Jie Jiang says, pointing to a revitalized schedule of events at the nearby Pioneer Courthouse Square.

And there’s Spella Caffe, hub of traditional Italian espresso (strong, dark, pure), which closed its location on SW Fifth near Alder during the pandemic, due in part to safety issues in a then largely vacant downtown. Spella had operated downtown since 2006, first as a cart that garnered best-espresso-in-Portland attention from our own Karen Brooks. Last fall, Spella reopened in all 200 square feet of the former Moonstruck Chocolate location on SW Alder, and the shop is positively bursting with light and energy and Italian sprezzatura. Owner Andrea Spella, who lives on the Park Blocks, says he feels intrinsically connected to life in the city’s urban core: “I love cities. I consider downtown my community. I am committed to it.” Building management was reportedly overjoyed, per Mr. Spella, at the opportunity for Spella to open in the vacant retail space. “Ninety percent of our regular customers live or work within a few blocks of here, and I was worried they might have all left because of the pandemic and all the problems downtown. But you know what? As soon as we opened, there they were. They told me, ‘We’ve been waiting for you!’”