In two weeks, Toledoans no longer will be able to get a double latte or other gourmet coffee brew at the corner of Madison Avenue and Superior Street downtown for the first time in 17 years.The owner of the Biggby's Coffee franchise at 420 Madison, citing economics, said he will vacate the location on the ground floor of the Ohio Building by April 30.But Biggby's franchisee Mohamed Shetaih said he isn't abandoning downtown's premium coffee crowd.He plans to relocate his franchise as soon as a suitable one can be found nearby."Right now, I'm in the process of securing a location, but the current one will be closing by the end of the month," he said. "There's some economics involved with that location. It's just too expensive to operate there."The corner site has been a mecca of gourmet brews since 1993 when the DeBacker family of Toledo founded the Sufficient Grounds coffee chain and began serving lattes, cappucinos, and other brews to customers caught up in the premium coffee wave ignited by Starbucks Corp. of Seattle.
In 2002, Sufficient Grounds, which had four locations, was purchased by the Beaner's coffee chain of East Lansing, Mich., which was expanding into Ohio.
In 2007, Beaner's changed its name to Biggby's, in part because the original name was seen as derogatory to Hispanics.Mr. Shetaih, who lives in East Lansing and owns 20 Biggby franchises, including eight in the Toledo area, said it will take "60 to 90 days minimum" to get a new store operating downtown once he finds a new site.He added that he is negotiating for a site at the One Lake Erie Center building on Huron Street at Jefferson Avenue adjacent to the Huntington Center building."We will stay in the downtown. I have a site across from the arena that I'm looking at," he said.Contact Jon Chavez at:jchavez@theblade.comor 419-724-6128.