Small business struggles: Lynchburg coffee shop owner discusses string of recent closures

LYNCHBURG, Va. – After three coffee shops have closed in Lynchburg in the span of about a month, 10 News sat down with one owner to find out why they’re shutting down and how you can help.

Owner of Mission House Coffee Tommy Clark said inflation is one of the reasons why he made the decision to close his location on Commerce Street.

“All of the ingredients are going up, but we have to keep competitive with our pricing of course,” Clark said. “People don’t want to pay five dollars for a cup of coffee.”

Plus, construction in the area took a toll, slowing business in the area. After a while, Clark knew it was time to pull the plug.

“We started to see the loss, month after month, after month,” Clark said. “We still held on. We probably shouldn’t have but we still held on because we knew the potential this place had.”

Clark believes the Hill City needs more programs to support local businesses through challenges they can’t control.

Just down the road, owners of 5th St. Grind announced their closure on July 3, and a week before, La Vida Coffee shared to Facebook news of their permanent closure.

“It’s always going to be more convenient and cheaper to go to a big box store with a big name who has a lot of overhead and a lot of money to work with,” Clark said. “When you look at what’s going to make an impact in your community, it’s the businesses like ours that are going to make a real difference.”

Mission House Coffee still operates locations in River Ridge Mall and the Cornerstone area.