Since its debut in Baker, Queen City has opened two more locations, one in Five Points and another in Wheat Ridge, as well as a concept inside Mission Ballroom. Between its cafes, wholesale business and roasting, it employs around 25 people.
Last October, Novel Strand approached Queen City's owners, brothers Scott, Luke and Eric Byington, and asked them to move the business out of the space by the end of 2023. "Sometimes partnerships just don’t work out," Scott notes. "We had a good run there and are so thankful that the six years we had at that corner really did establish us as a company and allowed us to grow."
The Byingtons say they were able to come to an agreement with Novel Strand for Queen City "to stick around until we found a new home," Scott adds. "We wanted to try to stick around the neighborhood, but they got antsy and really wanted us out with the summer months approaching."
"This wasn’t a partnership," says Novel Strand co-owner Tamir Danon. "We are their landlord, and they paid us rent to operate out of our taproom." He adds that he and his business partners made the decision to end Queen City's lease early because of direct violations of the lease agreement, but allowed it extra time to find a new space. "Professionally, it didn’t seem like the road was going to get less bumpy," Danon notes.
Ultimately, he says both businesses have experienced their own success and growth, but if they had continued to share the space, "that growth would’ve been happening at each other's expense, so we asked them to end the lease early — that you can go somewhere you can grow without us having to be there, without stepping on each others toes."
Danon also adds that Novel Strand will begin offering its own espresso service in the space soon, which he thinks will be easier to manage under one entity instead of two.
The Queen City team is excited for the move into Town Hall Collaborative.
Queen City Collective Coffee
Friends Lauren Beno and Denise Day had opened Town Hall Collaborative in 2022 inside a 7,700-square-foot building at 525 Santa Fe Drive. Pre-COVID, the building housed a few coffee shops, including Wayward Coffee Co, but since Town Hall moved in, the coffee aspect of the concept has been missing. While searching for a new space for Queen City, Beno and Day, both regulars of the Baker cafe, asked if the Byingtons might want to be the permanent coffee vendor inside of Town Hall.
"It all came together within the last month," Scott says. "It was serendipitous."
Queen City joining Town Hall is the first of several big changes at the collective space, which hosted 300 events during its first year in business. Other Dog, a hot dog restaurant from the team behind the Easy Vegan, is also set to move into Town Hall. The back of the space is now a mercantile with eight storefronts that are set to open April 12; vendors include a refillery, florist, tattoo artist, and more.
"There's so much space and Town Hall is very much a collaborative mindset," Scott notes. "We are so looking forward to partnering up on events and parties, and having a community space that we can fully activate."
The first event on the docket is Queen City's grand opening. "Our first day is First Friday, which is a big deal on Santa Fe, so we are open all day with music and partying through the night," Scott notes. "We're treating it like a new open, so the first fifty people will get a $1 drip card for life good at any Queen City shop."
Pandemic Donuts is popping up at the shop on Saturday, April 6, with special doughnuts along with Cafe Trace. On Sunday, April 7, Bakery Four will be there providing free pastries with the purchase of a coffee.
Queen City will extend its hours for opening weekend, but afterwards, it will resume its regular schedule of 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
"We're sad to leave, we wish we could stay," Scott concludes, "but ultimately this is going to be a better fit."
For more information about Queen City Collective Coffee, visit queencitycollectivecoffee.com.
