Jittery Joe’s prepares for store closure

Jittery Joe’s is set to close its doors on Oct. 14, just over a year after the Athens-based business opened its space in downtown Milledgeville.

Bobbi Otis | gcsunade.com

ittery Joe’s prepares for closure on Oct. 14. The coffee chain, located in downtown Milledgeville, lacked steady business and it is to be determined how the space will be utilized.

Vice President of Auxiliary Services Kyle Cullars says the closing is due to a low volume of business. Cullars also said that it could be attributed to the lack of marketing or any combination of other factors.

Senior nursing major and Jittery Joe’s barista Kara Wynkoop does not have an explanation as to why the coffee shop did not succeed.

“I think it’s strange they didn’t do well here,” Wynkoop said, “since they do so well in big cities like New York and Dallas.”

Loyalty runs strong among frequent customers of Jittery Joes.

“I go to Jittery Joe’s because of the Turtle Mocha,” said sophomore education major Kasey Smith. “It’s my favorite. I like it better.”

Others students prefer Blackbird Coffee, located down the street from Jittery Joe’s.

“I go to Blackbird because of the baristas,” sophomore pre-early childhood education major Jennifer Bilow said. “I absolutely love them. I feel like they know more about the coffee and I like the vibe.”

Follett Higher Education Group, which operates the university bookstore, has a contract with Jittery Joe’s. There is no direct contact between Georgia College and the coffee shop.

“We (the college) are looking at a replacement and that will be a different contractual arrangement than what we had before,” Cullars said. “Under this new setup there will be a contractual arrangement between the college and the business that goes there.”

This new arrangement will allow the university to have more control over what is being done with the new business that replaces Jittery Joe’s.

As far as the business that will be opening tentatively in the Spring Semester, Cullars says they have looked at many options.

“Freshëns was our top choice, Freshëns yogurts, smoothies and more,” Cullars said. “That was the original choice – in fact we were ready to move forward with Freshens and ready to sign a contract with them when we confirmed with Frank Pendergast that Yoforia is coming.”

According to Cullars, options were weighed and the decision was made that there was a market for a yogurt shop in Milledgeville, but there was not a market for two yogurt shops three doors apart.

A full-service Einstein Bros. Bagels was considered for the space, but was ultimately not chosen because of the café already present on campus.

“We are leaning, right now, toward a Dunkin’ Donuts,” Cullars said. “They have a pretty extensive menu with sandwiches and different things.”

Cullars met with representatives from Dunkin’ Donuts on Oct. 4 to show them the available space and discuss options. The company’s representatives are in the process of making a proposal for the university, which will take a few weeks.

No matter what business is chosen to open, it will take time for it to be ready to serve the community.

Time will be needed for design work, bidding out the construction work and then time for the construction to take place. Though Cullars believes the actual construction portion will not take more than two weeks, the entire process will take two to three months to be completed.

Renovations and all of the permanent equipment installed will be paid for by Auxiliary Services and is expected to cost between $150,000 and $200,000 to fully outfit the space.

After the construction is completed and the new business is in place, it will be operated by Sodexo.

A new business and new management will be in place, but customers might see the same faces working behind the counter.

It is a goal of Auxiliary Services to give the workers who worked at Jittery Joe’s the option of working at the new business if they want to continue.

Posted by Bobbi Otis on Oct 6 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.