Coming Home Coffee House is closing for good this weekend.
The longstanding cafe on Sixth Street will close its doors permanently on Sunday, Sept. 18. Guy Dubé-Bureau told The Record, “The new landlords have decided that they don't want me; they've decided to give me notice to get out.”
“I'm leaving here because I've not been given a choice to continue."
Dubé-Bureau had started the café 17 years ago. About four months ago, in June 2022, the building was taken over by new landlords who, as Dubé-Bureau had told The Record in a previous interview, had shot up the rents.
In a write-up that Dubé-Bureau posted on Facebook at the time, he had expressed his concern over whether he would be able to continue the business with the new rent prices.
“New landlords, new costs, new decisions. Not much time to ponder. Like everyone, it’s been an extremely hard two years, and now that I’m just reopening, I’m being asked to truly commit or just go and hide and cry in a corner with a mountain of debt to keep me company,” the post read.
The last four months, Dubé-Bureau said, have been “hell” dealing with the new landlords.
“Two weeks ago, I said, ‘Yeah, fine, I'll deal with the new terms.' And then they turned around over the weekend and decided that they just didn't want me as a tenant and that they're putting the space up for lease.”
According to Dubé-Bureau, it’s just not him, but four other tenants in the building are leaving.
“I don’t know who else has been told to leave,” he said.
Dubé-Bureau blames the “millionaires coming in buying buildings and basically kicking us out.” A trend, which he said, is costing small businesses in New West — “which is unfortunate,” he said.
“They (the landlords) don't really care that you've been there for 17 years. It's just … that's the annoying part,” he said.
While Dubé-Bureau’s plans for the future are not yet known, this week, he is focused on getting people “to come in and buy stuff, liquidate as much as possible. My focus right now is to try and get some cash in.”
Besides their popular egg bennies, lattes and mac & cheese, Coming Home Cafe will also be selling a lot of their kitchenware, including the stove, at the store — as posted on the cafe’s Facebook page.
