Another Downtown Boise Business Closes For Good After 24 Years

If you’ve driven through Downtown Boise, you know that it’s basically one road closure after another. Originally, the local coffee shop planned to close until construction in the Linen District wrapped up but that plan has changed. 

Over Labor Day weekend, Sarah Fendley shared the news via Facebook that her coffee shop, Big City Coffee, would not be returning later this year. In the post announcing the closure of her Grove Street location, Fendley reflected on how her brand has grown since she sold her car for the down payment to open the coffee shop 24 years ago.

READ MORE:  37 Boise Area Businesses Have Closed Locations for Good in 2024 

She also called the last four years, the hardest of her life. The coffee shop is well known for their support of law enforcement since BPD officer Kevin Holtry was injured in the line of duty in 2016. At the time Fendley and Holtry were engaged and she’s hung Thin Blue Line flags to show her support for law enforcement since the incident. 

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When Big City expanded to a location on Boise State’s campus in 2020, that emblem didn’t sit well with some students. While the flag has been around for years, it became associated as a way to oppose the Black Lives Matter movement after George Floyd suffocated after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for over nine minutes. Knowing that Fendley had the flag hanging in her Downtown location, at least one student posted a video encouraging others to not support Big City Coffee if they supported people of color. 

Fendley responded with her own post, which eventually led to a meeting with several Boise State University representatives. She says they terminated Big City’s partnership with the school after one month. The University says that Fendley was the one who asked to be let out of the contract. There’s a lawsuit and the trial started just a few days before Fendley announced the Grove Street location was closing. 

In her farewell post, she said that Big City isn’t gone forever but is taking a break and mentioned that she’s in the position to give someone else a chance, the way she got one when she opened the shop more than two decades ago. It didn’t take long to find out who that business was. 

Established Boise coffee shop, Caffeina, will take over the location by the end of the week. In a post announcing their new “Caffeina Kitchen” concept, they committed to keeping many of Big City’s favorite items on the menu and familiar faces behind the counter. They want to keep the memories of Big City alive and said their team has one job, “don’t screw this up!” 

The new concept opens on Friday, September 6.