The “permanent closure” notice posted at Let it Bean. Thanks to Mark and many others for sending pictures to us

We’ve been surprised before by the coffee shack’s business resiliency but this just might really be the end. Yet another hole — this one, teensy, tiny — is about to be torn in Broadway’s business fabric. Let it Bean is set to close this coming weekend.

Owner Candace Smith confirmed the closure plans with CHS earlier this month. It has been no secret. Smith posted a note to let customers know what was coming.

Smith tells CHS the 80-square-foot coffee stand in the teriyaki restaurant parking lot at Broadway and Harrison, despite its grandmothered usage allowing it to operate as a drive-thru, just doesn’t generate enough business to cover costs. “I’m closing because the rent and labor costs are too high for where our sales are,” she writes. “Coffee is a hard product to charge more for.”

Let it Bean transformed itself out of the former TNT Espresso in late 2016. Smith acquired the business from Rock Sielaff who, in turn, acquired it from longtime TNT operator Monica Anaya. Sielaff’s tour of duty lasted a year. Anaya, or Momo, and her crew were behind the counter for much longer. We visited in 2015 to say goodbye to the shack only to see it spring back to life with new ownership.

That could again be the case with the latest closure. But Smith said any new business will be starting from scratch — all of the espresso gear is being pulled out when Let it Bean closes, she said.

As for Smith, she tells CHS she will get back to focus on her career as a massage therapist.

The closure will join a ripple of businesses exiting Broadway. The month started with an abrupt shuttering of the second-coming of Charlie’s on Broadway. A bankruptcy meltdown of the chain means Broadway’s American Apparel will close any day now. And on Friday, Dilettante announced it was exiting its birth neighborhood at the end of the month with the closure of its cafe and martini bar at Broadway and Mercer.

Let it Bean is scheduled to remain open through Sunday, January 29th.