Juan Valdez Café To Close On April 30th (7th & E St NW)

Damn I hope this isn’t true, I liked this place much more than SB. If true, I’ll miss the expresso with brown sugar when the place closes.

OH NO!!!!! I liked their coffee so much more than SB. Unfortunately, Starbucks is always full, and Juan Valdez is not. I think it’s mostly because people (esp. tourists) don’t know what it is and they just gravitate to what they know. I’ll really miss their cafe con leche. No one else makes that (and no it’s not a latte, it’s more of a cafe au lait).

No.No.No! I so enjoyed atmosphere along with the free WiFi. For an alternative to the mermaid check out Breakwell’s on 9th st. b/w M&N NW (Convention Ctr). It’s a bit of a walk but it’s a local biz that offers great coffee, free WiFi, comfy sofas.

I hope they will reconsider. I love their Coffee. I think they just need to do more to get people to come into the store such as live singers to make it more festive. PLEASE STAY.

I think it’s more of a marketing problem. it doesn’t look like a coffee house, and it’s called a cafe. If you’ve never heard of it, and you don’t remember the old colombian coffee commercials, you probably wouldn’t think of it as being a competitor to starbucks. More signage would have helped. I will really miss the coffee and the free wifi.

Oh great, more empty storefronts to line 7th Street. In that short stretch now you’ll have the Juan Valdez along with the Balducci space, former Pua and the former architecture firm spaces.

I think that’s just the nature of a vibrant city. Stores close and new ones open up in their place.
The Juan Valdez store was an aggressive expansion of the chain to compete directly with Starbucks. Well, looks like they lost the competition.

In the face of dwindling sales of coffee in a can, the federation developed a strategy for global expansion that would include the cafes and coffee machines at retail locations.

Source

Farewell, Juan. I’ll always have fond memories of the day that I got an 8-hour caffeine buzz on a Nevado.

Did Juan had to find someone else to fill the lease? If so, wonder what’s coming?

I heard the reason they are closing is because the store is losing money, and I guess not showing a pattern of increasing revenue enough to believe it will make money any time soon.

I like that place too, and I actually sent an email to Juan Valdez Cafe corporate 3 months ago stating that I was conerned they would want to close because they didn’t have enough customers, and I listed 5 things they could do to holpfully increase traffic. Two of the suggestions were to put better signage outside and to sell the Paper. I agree, people just don’t see that they are there. I myself didn’t notice until months after they opened. I also could never understand why they didn’t sell the Washington Post. If someone wanted a paper, they had to go across the street to Starbucks. Needless to say I’m not surprised they are closing. It is just unfortuante that they didn’t make the effort to get more business, because I think they could have been successful. Especially since they have FREE WIRELESS!!!

i personally love the “shot in the dark” a shot of espresso in their dark coffee ..its soo strong it once gave me the jitters …and that my friends….. is hard to do!!
farewell juan….
xoxo

I wouldn’t be surprised if Shimba Hills soon follows Juan’s lead. Mornings when I walk by and the line at Starbucks is to the door, Shimba has few if any customers.

I would think something will quickly fill that space; however, aside from the District Chophouse, the other spaces on that block of 7th have sat empty for years.

A lot of the space to the left of the Chophouse will be filled by the America’s Most Wanted Museum. Other empty space is zoned as Arts, and is probably too costly for 99% of arts oriented businesses.

I agree that the Jaun Valdez space should be filled up pretty quickly.

Oh no! I always hate to see competition decline.

However, there is one thing Starbucks does better than Juan Valdez or Shimba Hills: make its atmosphere seem cozy to passersby. From the window as you pass by, neither JV nor SH looks like a place to settle in and read the paper, hang out, work on your laptop, etc. Not as much as Starbucks does.

this is really too bad – their shot in the dark is fantastic. Shimba is great too. they always give me free desert when i’m in there with a laptop.

does anybody know if theres a coffee place open after 10 on weeknights in/around gallery place? all three starbucks on 7th close early,shimba and juan valdez empty out before nine.

I think CBD hits the nail on the proverbial head. the interior is mostly white and uninviting. chalk it up to marketing. their drinks were always on the money in my tastebuds. and, they had the frequent customer card which Starbucks DOESN’T have. but no customers = no revenue = no store.

I will so miss Juan Valdez as an alternative to SB’s burnt decaf. But like others, I’m not terribly surprised. In addition to not selling the newspaper, they didn’t sell any food worth eating (save for a brief flirtation with warm breakfast sandwiches), and that always led me to SB when I was craving something naughty after a long night.

Our neighborhood probably has too many coffee shops, but this is definitely not the one I would have wanted to close. And that stretch of 7th Street is just too sad with all its empty storefronts. Is the America’s Most Wanted museum actually happening? I thought that was mistaken for the Law Enforcement Memorial museum that’s going in near 5th & F?

I disagree that the wide stretch of empty storefronts – and the difficulty in keeping existing places open – is normal for a city. That said, it’s not shocking for Penn Quarter. Despite the completion of a handful of condo buildings in the past year, the neighborhood still lacks a signficiant residential population. And, let’s face it, DC’s fanny-packed tourist base is not looking to lounge around drinking a latte or shopping in clothing stores – other than those that sell tees and caps with “CIA” or “FBI” slapped across it.

The Juan Valdez space was empty for years before it was rented out… and my prediction is it will stay empty for a long time before Jemal finds a sucker willing to pay his ridiculous Manhattan-level demands. Maybe as part of his agreement with DOJ he should have been forced to rent out his stores at the current market price, not the fanciful price in his head. I would avoid that corner once Juan Valdez closes, because without a store open it is very dark and dangerous (I’ve seen people accosted there when the space was vacant).

Avoid that corner? It’s not dark at all and it’s an extremely high traffic area with all the restaurants and the Clara Barton and other condos nearby. I can think of plenty much more dangerous corners to avoid in Penn Quarter then the corner of 7th and E.

Went in for a cafe con leche this weekend and confirmed that someone has indeed already taken over the lease. The woman working didn’t exactly know who, but she was sure the place was already leased to another entity.

I’m in shock.

I was going to go to Au Bon Pain for my lunch this afternoon, but after reading this, I’m going to go here instead to find out what’s up.

I really liked the place, but it was just a couple blocks too far from my office for me to go every day and so I only went a few times a month.

It’s really a wonderful place in an otherwise too drab city.