Unique Coffee Café in Carpentersville, named the best new business of 2022 by the Northern Kane County Chamber of Commerce, announced its closure this week.
“We want to thank you guys for your business and support! Our Carpentersville location will be permanently closed,” a message posted on the shop’s Facebook post said. The café was located at 2168 N. Randall Road.
Owner Jonathan Washington, who opened the family-owned café nine months ago at 2168 N. Randall Road, said they decided to shut their doors quietly.
“On paper, everything seemed like this should be the perfect spot,” Washington said. The storefront, located off Randall Road, is in the parking lot of the busy Woodman’s grocery store and near other stores, he said.
“We wanted to do something special for the area,” he said. “We live here. We shop here. We put our heart into it and a lot of finances. We tried to do the best we could. We didn’t get the support back.”
Unique Coffee Café had a small core customer base but it wasn’t enough, Washington said, noting that the business has gotten more attention since its closure than it did when it was open.
“You don’t miss something until it’s gone,” he said.
While the first year of any business can be rough, the café was struggling early on, Washington said. “We’ve been pretty much underwater since day one,” he said. “We were hoping it would get better. … We gave everything we had, we pushed through as far as we could go.”
Unique Café was new experience, he said, requiring him to figure out how to start a business from scratch and deal with electricians, plumbers, health department officials, village officials and architects. He also had to learn how to figure out the payroll, what type of equipment to buy and how to market a business, he said.
His goal, however, was to provide the best coffee and dining experience for his customers, Washington said.
The closure came just two months after the chamber named his business the best of the year at a banquet in November.
Washington “was very disappointed to come to the decision,” chamber President Melissa Hernandez said. “I know it was a big challenge, especially with competition like Dunkin’ and Starbucks.”
In fact, a second Starbucks is expected to open later this year in the same area as Unique Coffee Café was located.
Hernandez said she doesn’t think they’ve seen the last of Washington. “He’s got a lot of ideas and he has an entrepreneurial spirit,” she said. “I think we’ll see things from him in the future.”
Washington acknowledged he is looking toward that future.
“We are definitely not done. We might not do the exact thing, but we will be back with something,” he said.
“You have to stay on the grind. There’s nothing in life that’s easy. You have to stay focused, stay positive, and have faith,” Washington said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
