Philz Coffee Closes Original Mission District Location
Photo Courtesy of Philz Coffee.
Since the beginning of the Pandemic, San Francisco has been no stranger to businesses closing. So when I hear about a local business biting the dust, I’m not exactly surprised, but the closure of Philz did strike me as odd.
Since you’re reading a BAS article, I’m going to go ahead and assume you know what Philz Coffee is, and if you don’t, shame on you, but here’s a summary because I’m not a dick and I need this article to be at least 500 words; not because Stuart asks me to make articles at least 500 words, but anything less and it doesn’t really feel like an article, does it?
So there is this guy, his name is Phil Jaber and he ran a convenience store in the Mission District, but then he was like “fuck convenience stores, we sell coffee, but we don’t brew beforehand because this is San Francisco. Your coffee is going to be extremely fresh, so fucking wait for it.” That’s not a direct quote. I just feel like that’s what he said. But it was worth it because the coffee was really good.
Like really fucking good.
The coffee was so good that everyone in San Francisco wanted it, and so hella locations opened. I mean a lot; 13 to be exact, and that’s just San Francisco. Philz Coffee also opened several locations down the Peninsula, across the bridge in the East Bay, and even Chicago.
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There are a few reasons why I find it odd that the original Philz is closing. For one, the place was always busy. Every single time I went into Philz on 24th street, it was absolutely buzzing with activity. It was one of the few coffee shops in the city that always felt packed long after the morning rush.
Another strange fact about Philz is that no one really hated it. I know that sounds weird, but this is San Francisco, everyone here finds a reason to hate something, but few people had a bad word to say about Philz Coffee. It even somehow avoided the dreaded G-word, which constantly gets thrown around any time a coffee shop opens in a gentrifying area.
I rarely care when businesses close because that’s life. Shit changes, businesses close when the market trends change. Blame capitalism. Your memories don’t mean shit to a CEO’s spreadsheet. But this was different, at least to me. I remember sitting in there and being genuinely impressed by how well decorated the space was. It didn’t feel like an Apple Store, it was one of the few high-end coffee shops that felt lived in and loved. The blue-sky ceiling and the legitimately interesting art made the place special. It wasn’t a coffee shop where you just walked in to grab a cup before work. It had the makings of a “third place,” the ever important social environment that exists in the purgatory between work and home. I’m sad to see it go.
To make a long story short, Philz got me in my feelz.
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