For the last two days there has been a conspicuous hand-written “Sorry, we’re closed today” note up in the window of Spin Cafe on Park Ave. Although highly unusual, I know that staff turnover is frequent and the morning shift is particularly hard to fill. So I had hoped for the best. But this morning, disaster struck:
Spin Caffe is closed and has a FOR RENT sign up

Yes, I consider this a serious disaster. It would be easy to view this as “only coffee” – but I see it as so much more. It was a neighborhood hang-out. It was a place for young and old to sit with their laptops and get online. It was a place that you saw musicians sipping coffee using music editing software on their macbooks. Renee and I met with the President of the Park Central Neighborhood Association a few weeks ago at Spin Caffe. And most importantly:
Local coffee shops like Spin promote a walkable urban experience
But no longer.

I am very surprised as I had gotten to know the owner and her daughter (from Victor) in my ritualized morning visits to Spin. They purchased the Rochester chain about a year and a half ago, which consisted of the main downtown coffee roasting facility and a few retail locations (3, I think). There was certainly no notice that the Spin Cafe on Park Ave was closing.

If you would like to share your thoughts about Spin, please do. You can also join us at parkavecentral, our small neighborhood association web site.