Coffee shop Kiva Han to close

By Gwen Barney

Kiva Han employee Holly McDevitt has heard the same question many times over the past… Kiva Han employee Holly McDevitt has heard the same question many times over the past week.

“Are you closing?” a woman asks before ordering at the coffee shop’s counter.

“Yes,” McDevitt answers. “But it’s easier if you read the sign.” She motions to a framed piece of paper leaning against the cash register that announces the store’s Feb. 19 closing.

After more than 15 years in Oakland, the Kiva Han coffee shop, located at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Craig Street and popular for its laid-back counterculture atmosphere and in-store-use board games, will shut its doors.

“I’m bummed out about it really,” McDevitt, 21, said. “I liked working here. If you’ve ever seen the movie Empire Records, working here reminds me of that movie. There’s a certain subculture.”

Increased rent is the primary culprit responsible for the closing.

“At this location, the rent is around six times higher than the amount of rent at Oh Yeah! Ice Cream & Coffee Co. in Shadyside,” said longtime Kiva Han employee Tyler Bryan, a senior accounting major at Pitt.

Bryan said that Kiva Han’s owners made a deal with the owner of their shop’s property to pay rent month to month at a reduced rate. But part of the agreement was that if a new buyer was willing to sign the higher-priced, year-long lease, Kiva Han would pack up and leave the storefront within 60 days.

“We’re not really at a risk of going under,” Bryan said. “It was just the whole rent aspect.”

The Silk & Stewart Development group, which owns the property, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

With the lease for the property already signed by a new incoming tenant, The Bagel Factory, and Kiva Han owner John Mutchka already hatching plans to open a food truck, the chances of Kiva Han reversing its decision to close seem nonexistent.

“He’s super excited and passionate about [the food truck idea], so I don’t think there’s any chance,” McDevitt said of the store remaining open.

Mutchka is in the process of finalizing plans to open a food truck that will cruise around Pittsburgh’s suburbs and serve soup and sandwiches, among other foods. His new business venture will be known as GetLadled.

Though the Kiva Han storefront will close, Kiva Han coffee can still be purchased online at www.kivahan.com.

Patrons of Kiva Han packed the coffee shop this weekend in anticipation of its impending closing.

Disappointment, tragedy and heartbreak were the words sophomores Conor Voigt, Michael Giblin and Gabe Appel-Kraut used to describe the news about the closing of their favorite coffee shop.

“It’s just a sucky thing about America that cool places like this can’t exist,” Appel-Kraut said. “We’ll probably just end up making coffee in the apartment now. There’s something about a place like this, they just put more love into their coffee.”

Juniors Katie Markovich and Kathryn Scheuring shared in Appel-Kraut’s mourning.

“There’s more of a sense of community in this place,” Scheuring said, contrasting Kiva Han with chain coffee shops.

“Even if it’s the first time you’ve come here, you get that sense of community,” Markovich added.

Out with the board games, in with the bagels

The Pittsburgh Bagel Factory, an independently owned restaurant with other locations in Squirrel Hill and Shadyside, will take over ownership Kiva Han’s piece of prime realty on March 1.

“We’re very excited about it,” Bagel Factory co-owner David Feldstein said. “It’s a great location. The traffic there is wonderful. We wanted to be on that corner for 10 years.”

Feldstein shares ownership responsibilities with his mother, June, and Pitt alumnus Charles Avalli.

The owners believe their store can fill a unique niche in the Oakland community.

“There’s not really a place for breakfast on [North Craig Street]. Not a bagel shop. Every college has a bagel shop,” Feldstein said.

In addition to bagels made in-store, the new shop will offer fresh salads, deli sandwiches and side dishes. The store will also team up with what Feldstein described as a “popular local coffee company” to offer coffee.

The owners said that they were not yet prepared to reveal the name of their future coffee supplier.

While Feldstein signed the lease for the property between six and eight months ago, the business won’t open until renovations are completed — a project with a tentative late-summer completion date.

“It’s a gut job,” Feldstein said. “Everything’s coming out.”

Renovation plans include installation of televisions and open-air windows that will completely open during warm weather.

Feldstein said the turnover of the property from Kiva Han to his business is incorrectly being heralded as an “independent David versus corporate Goliath” story.

“We’re not a corporate grunt,” Feldstein said. “We’re a family-owned business. Hopefully the community will support us the way they supported Kiva Han.”