Coffee shop startup closes

A second coffee shop has closed in the Fremont Center in as many years.

Able Coffee & Provisions LLC, which opened in June 2019, has shuttered, according to a Facebook post yesterday from the shop. Able Coffee filled the 3049 S. Fremont Ave. space vacated by Free Solo Coffee Co., which closed in January 2019 after less than a year in business.

Reached this morning, owner Rance Loftsgard said the shop closed Jan. 24.

“We didn’t have the financial liquidity to ride the ups and downs of a new business,” he said, noting he has “nothing but gratitude” for the regular customers who visited Able Coffee.

Loftsgard previously told Springfield Business Journal that Able Coffee was working to become part of the local movement to introduce the third wave of coffee, an initiative to produce high-quality, direct-trade beverages. He told SBJ he invested $30,000 on the venture.

“What will make us successful is our ‘why.’ We view coffee as a way to connect and help people find a safe third place,” Loftsgard told SBJ in June 2019.