River Maiden Artisan Coffee is looking for a new home after lease negotiations with its landlord fell apart, the coffee shop announced this week. Its last day is June 21.
The closure comes after weeks of back-and-forth negotiating between the coffee shop at 602 N. Devine Road and property owner Highland Square LLC. Aaron Flies, who co-owns River Maiden with his partner Melissa Layman, said the landlords wanted to raise rents 41 percent and require a 10-year lease.
Flies and Layman said they were fine to pay more rent, but the cafe industry’s free-flowing trends made them reluctant to lock into a decadelong lease.
“When we first started 12 years ago, you just served coffee drinks and baked goods. People were very excited just to have artisan coffee,” Layman said. “Now if you look, (coffee shops are) starting to become bakeries, serve light lunches, becoming full-service restaurants. … Coffee changes so much, we needed to have room to be flexible.”
Owner Tom Grace called the coffee shop owners “super people” but said there was a gulf between the deals each side wanted. Mainly, they felt they could require a 10-year lease because “that’s what the market would bear.”
“The business climate is very good in Vancouver right now; you have a lot of players in Portland that are trying to get a toehold,” he said. Grace added that they already landed a new tenant for the 1,500-square-foot space but won’t announce who it is until July.
River Maiden’s seven workers will be laid off during the hiatus, but Flies said they hoped to rehire them whenever they find their next location. Reopening may take until September or October, after they find another location and clear the permitting process.
The owners are optimistic, though. Despite an uncertain future, River Maiden survived an inauspicious start with its coffee, hometown pride and tongue-in-cheek marketing.
The company did not originally sell coffee. At first, it sold jewelry made by Layman, but she and Flies focused more on coffee after it became apparent it was more popular, she said.
The company had two store closures in its first seven years. It had a presence at the Vancouver Farmers Market’s short-lived indoor market, which closed in September 2007. And a downtown location, Dripster, at 701 Main St., ended its four-year run in 2012.
At its 602 N. Devine Road location, where it has been since December 2005, River Maiden has adopted the persona of someone who loves Vancouver as much as cult movies. T-shirts and mugs sold there remixed famous lines from such movies as “The Big Lebowski” and “The Goonies” to say “The ‘Couve Abides” or “Couvies Never Say Die.”
Flies said 2017 has been River Maiden’s strongest year yet, which he attributes to continuity.
“We’ve been here 12 years. Each year, you get more awareness and more people telling others about us,” he said. “We love being from Vancouver, and that’s always radiated from River Maiden.”
