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Closed for Business: Leaf and Bean, 83 Seventh Avenue
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 1:45PM 
After a teary month of farewells to loyal customers, Leaf and Bean, the nearly 40 year old coffee and tea shop on Seventh Avenue between Berkeley and Union Streets, has closed.
When I spoke with co-owner Karen Hue shortly after the ennouncement last month, she assured me that the coffee and tea shop is not gone for good, but will be re-opening in a smaller space somewhere else in the neighborhood. No confirmation yet if that will in fact be happening, though.
When the shop opened in 1973, it was one of the few places where gourmet coffee could be found, in literally hundreds of different blends. Nowadays there are many options in Park Slope alone, and plenty of coffee shops are brewing up high-quality joe. The market for what they were selling simply dwindled, and the large space coudn't support it anymore. Hopefully they're able to settle on a new location, and can carve a new niche for themselves in the neighborhood.
Closed for Business in History, Storefronts
Reader Comments (13)
What a great space, though. I hope something terrific comes in there to replace them and that they find a smaller cheaper home somewhere. I have to say that they really need to update their stock though, because their selection was so 90's.
How about a Stumptown Cafe in here?
Or a nice clothing store could be nice too. Wonderful area for displays in those windows.
That place sucked! stock was very outdated and the place looked like crap. We need a good italian bakery!
Italian bakery would be delightful.
I was trying to be nice, but yes Leaf n Bean pretty much sucked for the past 10 years or so. It had charm, but the selection was terrible.
As much as I would love a good Italian bakery (we used to have a few on 7th Avenue many years ago), I don't think one would survive in this neighborhood, I think the residents around here (now, not saying everyone), wouldn't think that a good Italian bakery would be ritzy enough for them (insert eye roll here).
Loved Leaf and Bean, never bought coffee in there, but would buy other household bric a brac, they will be missed, the shop was so cute! I sincerely hope they open up somewhere else.
I think nostalgia rules a bit over reality here, as "specialties coffees and teas" just don't mean a whole lot in an age where every coffee shop is selling some high-end roaster's blend. However, yes, there were all sorts of neat knicks-knacks in there. I wish the former owners the best.
The fact that the sign said L__F N __AN for long before they had plans to close speaks volumes about the care the proprietors had put into the store of late. If they do manage to reopen, I hope they'll pay a bit more attention to the detail and presentation.
You think that was bad, Ben K. you should see the disgusting rotted flag that hangs over that store. And if that wasn't bad enough, they've allowed Petco Unleased to hang their grand opening banner (they've been open for over 6 months) in front of their store making that and the rotted flag and the missing letters have people wonder if the store actually closed up years ago. It had some charms, but I consistently went in to try to buy things, and not only did they have no selection, but they didn't even offer to order it for me. I love to support local business, but these people had become sloppy.
And for god's sake, take down that hideous Petco banner!
Wow, is the default personality of Park Slope residents now set to self-entiled douchebag? Because that's what several of the comments above lead me to believe.
Leaf and Bean was a nice store run by people who were good to their customers. They had a decent selection of good-quality products, and the neighborhood is far poorer without them. I didn't shop there all the time, but when I did, I had no trouble finding nice things.
I don't think people in Park Slope are any more entitled than any other group of people, but there's nothing wrong with wanting a mom and pop store to go the extra mile. If they have a low selection and don't want to order something then why shouldn't I just go find it somewhere else like Williams Sonoma which is open later, has a much better selection and just as nice customer service.
like I said, I tried MANY times to purchase items from what seemed like nice people, but every time they allowed me to leave the store empty handed. It's just not good business.
Why are so many Park Slopers willing to defend mediocrity for the sake of having mom and pops, is what I'd like to know. Just because they were nice people doesn't mean they were good business people.
the store was cute and had some nice things in it, I don't call that medicority
Yet, ParkSlopePerson here is a store that the landlord DID NOT kick out and in fact was very kind and let the debt pile up from unpaid rent and the store still couldn't make it. Don't you think that inherently makes it mediocre? If it was excellent, I believe it would have survived. The beauty of our capitalist system is that the mediocre fail while the excellent survive. If the store was as good as you say (to the majority of people, not just you) it would still be there. And unlike your previous rants, the landlord was not the cause, those ladies themselves admitted that they just couldn't hack it there anymore.
You admitted you didn't buy coffee there. Don't you think if you're defending it, you should have supported their efforts to stay in business? If you didn't buy their coffee, then you bought it somewhere else with a less mediocre selection?
Oh for crying out loud dean street!! Shut up already! i don't buy coffee anywhere, i don't go around looking for the best and most wonderful coffee grinds in the Slope, but, yes, I did shop there. I said previously I bought household things there and knick knacks! And, how the hell do you know that the rent piled up??
And, yeah, we do know some stores that lost their lease not because they couldn't hack it, but because the landlords jacked up the rents soo high that the places moved out, yet, the stores still stay empty. So, my rants as you put them are not without merit all the time.
I just hate to see long time established stores that helped make park Slope what it is today close up and be replaced with some over priced restaurant/bar/clothing store.
Though, I am happy and SHOCKED to hear that you dean street would welcome an Italian bakery in Park Slope, lol