On Christmas Eve, Highland Coffees' iconic, jasmine-covered iron gates will shut at the shop’s location on Highland Road.

Owner Clarke Cadzow said his business was unable to renew the lease originally set to end in November. The lease will be extended through Dec. 24 so the coffee shop can serve the campus community until the end of the fall semester.

For 25 years, he said, Highland Coffees has been a home away from home for students, professors and community members alike.

“We feel a deep connection with LSU,” Cadzow said.

When the coffee shop opened its doors in November 1989, it was the only specialty tea and coffee shop in Baton Rouge. Customers flocked from around town, and many stayed. Yet one ingredient remains the same: the shop’s commitment to the community and creating great coffee.

“Me and my staff have just been as committed as we can be in running the best coffee shop we could,” Cadzow said. “Anything else is just a result of that.”

Cadzow said their formula is simple: After their imported coffee is roasted in house, the staff serves drinks and pastries, cleans tables and interacts with customers. As classical music hums in the background, the customers work, talk, read and sip.

“The customers do the rest. We just kind of provide the place,” Cadzow said.

Coffee and tea are social beverages by nature, Cadzow said, letting the business become a social hub on the outskirts of campus.

“It’s like a home away from home, and you get to know people with more depth,” Cadzow said.

From students with instruments on their backs rushing in from the School of Music to families enjoying a Sunday morning treat, he credits his customers and the Northgate area’s rich history for making the business what it is today.

Cadzow said Highland Coffees stresses the Northgate community’s importance.

“It’s the second-oldest commercial district in town. That alone is important,” Cadzow said.

The area, once known as “Professors’ Row,” was home to University professors and their families. In the 1980s, the area transformed, blossoming with businesses aimed toward students. Now, Northgate is a location unlike any other in Baton Rouge.

“When you come to Northgate and you walk around, you think, ‘There is something special about this neighborhood,’” Cadzow said.

Though disappointed to leave, Cadzow said he hopes to reopen his shop in another nearby location.