After six years of serving coffee, vegetarian pastries, and crêpes — and serving as a meeting place and neighborhood hub for the artists and residents around Roosevelt Row — Jobot Coffee and Dining will be closing in late December.

Jobot owner John Sagasta made the announcement on Facebook early this morning, and told New Times he is making plans to relocate but isn't yet sure of details.

"It seems now that Jobot's time has come to pass the torch like so many before," he wrote, referencing difficulties renegotiating a lease. "It goes without saying that this decision does not come easy and is only because every effort to secure our building was unsuccessful. We are not at all prepared for this move so our next steps are still being determined. Sometime in January we will be attempting to move coffee and pastry operations to Melt temporarily until a better solution can be found. There are no hard feelings towards the landowner as we understand sometimes business is business and this unfortunately is one of those times."

Sagasta says the last day of service at Jobot will likely be December 23, or perhaps December 24. Jobot will be vacating the building it occupies on Fifth Street on December 26, and Sagasta has asked the community for help packing and moving, as well as any employment leads for his cooks and baristas.

"There is also the great concern of our staff's future," Sagasta wrote. "This decision will displace 30 great people and I ask if you are looking for any help or have any good leads, please let us know. We can post it on our internal communications page."

Early this morning, Sagasta told New Times he wasn't sure yet if the next Jobot location would be downtown, or if running out of Melt might become a permanent solution. But he says there will likely be some kind of closing event or "last bash" before Jobot's doors close.

"Things are kinda up in the air right now," Sagasta says, "but I'm pretty sure we are going to try and blow out a brunch this weekend."

Many Phoenicians lamented the coffee shop's closing on Facebook.

"Thank you for having spaces awkward kids like me felt safe being ourselves, homesick immigrants like me could feel like they belonged in a community again," Layal Rabat wrote.

"Jobot ... played a huge roll [sic] in my life. Some of the greatest conversations and decisions I have made came on the patio and chairs of Jobot," David Fierro commented.

Sagasta's Facebook post about the closing thanked the community for its support:

"Thank you everyone for your years of support. I know to many of you this place means as much to you as it does me. If you catch me getting teared up over the next few weeks you know why, but I understand this; the pioneering spirit of 5th street street lives on. It's the spirit of the arts district. You hear a lot of talk that big business has squashed the arts district. It hasn't. We are still here. This is Phoenix. Rebirth is part of the deal."

