Locals react to long-time Downtown Colorado Springs coffee shop closing its doors

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)- A popular coffee shop in the heart of Downtown Colorado Springs is closing its doors.

In less than two weeks, The Perk on Tejon Street will be closing for good.

"It's kind of a death by a thousand paper cuts and it's a little bit here a little bit there," said Don Heaberlin, The Perk Downtown Owner.

That's how Heaberlin describes the decision to close. He opened up his business on St. Patrick's Day in 2008 but like many businesses, they never recovered from the pandemic.

"When it was over we thought it's go back to normal and here we are this many years later and it's still not normal so the business world changed, the world changed with COVID," said Heaberlin.

According to the 2024 State of Downtown Report, 29 new businesses including retail and restaurants opened last year.

Meredith Klube, the manager at Jack Quinn's Irish Pub and Restaurant said she's noticed another business trend too.

"Some businesses closed like The Perk, obviously, Lemon Ski Lodge closed, there was another coffee shop I think that closed but in turn, there seems to be other businesses opening up," said Klube.

Some regular Perk customers were surprised by the news today, which was the case for Adrian Kemp.

"I'm sad to hear they're closing, I would never know that they were closing up because it's a busy street and it's a lot of traffic," said Kemp.

As for Heaberlin, he's thankful for all of the support from the community.

"And we're just family down here and I would say for people who come down support your downtown.

The Perk's last day for customers to grab a cup of Joe is Sunday, May 26.