The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Gayley Avenue, one of Westwood Village’s many coffee shops, will close in June.
Danny Hernandez, the store’s general manager, said the shop will close because of financial difficulties. He added store managers have not chosen an exact date, but they are planning to close the store the week leading up to June 30.
Hernandez said most employees will continue to work at other Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf locations, including the other Westwood Village location on Westwood Boulevard. He added he could not disclose what type of store would replace the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
Jerica Johnson, a supervisor at the store and fourth-year sociology student, said she thinks it will be strange to leave after working at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for the past three years – almost her entire undergraduate experience.
Melissa Mesina, a barista who graduated from UCLA last year, said she thinks the imminent store closure was the push she needed to pursue a full-time career. She added she will be sad to stop working with the friends she has made there.
Johnson and Mesina said they’ve been informing their regular customers of the June closure. They added some regulars told them they were upset and confused by the change.
Riana Singh, a regular at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and third-year Asian American studies student, said she wasn’t sure what coffee shop she would go to next year.
“I might go to Starbucks, but it’s crowded and cold,” she said. “Espresso Profeta is nice, but it doesn’t have (power) outlets.”
Singh added she would miss the community of baristas and the group of regulars who frequent the coffee shop, but she said she thinks the change might help her explore other study spots Westwood has to offer.