Churchill Coffee to close last Springfield location

The location's last full day of operation will be May 15, and it will close early on May 16.

Through licensing agreements, Churchill will continue to provide its coffee beans to area grocery stores. CEO Cary Summers said Churchill coffee also would soon be available at two newly licensed locations in Blue Eye and Lebanon.

With its five-year lease at French Quarter, 1604 E. Republic Road, coming to an end this month, Summers said the time is right for the company’s shift away from retail and toward its flourishing wholesale business. The Springfield-based company – now a decade old – imports its coffee beans from about 20 countries.

Churchill Coffee is distributed to dozens of food stores in a 12-state area that includes Missouri and most of its neighboring states. Summers said commercial accounts include Wal-Mart, Price Cutter, Country Mart and Harter House.

“We continue to grow the company servicing food stores … and that continues to grow at a very rapid pace, plus we continue to license locations throughout the country,” Summers said.

One of those locations is a Churchill Coffee shop and restaurant at the 587-acre Morningside development in Blue Eye, a small town on the Missouri-Arkansas border near Table Rock Lake.

Morningside is the vision of Branson residents Jerry and Dee Crawford, who formed Morningside Development LLC and in 2005 purchased the property on Grace Chapel Road near the intersection of state highways 86 and 13. Once complete, the development will have up to 1,800 homes and 4,000 condos and townhouses.

Jerry Crawford said the 7,000-square-foot Churchill Coffee – about twice the size of the Republic Road location – would be in the development’s Main Street area and is expected to open in about six weeks. Summers said Crawford has acquired much of the equipment from the southeast Springfield store closing.

Churchill previously licensed stores or kiosks in downtown Springfield, the Library Center and on the Missouri State University campus. Its corporate store was previously located in the building on South Glenstone Avenue that now houses Rivals, a sports-themed restaurant.

See SBJ’s May 12 issue for more about Churchill Coffee’s evolving business.