This post was updated Sept. 22 at 10:03 p.m.
Espresso Profeta, a specialty coffee shop, will close Friday after 20 years in Westwood.
The shop, which opened its only location at 1129 Glendon Avenue in January 2006, could no longer afford to pay rent, co-owner and General Manager Samantha Langford said.
The broker for the property declined to comment on the rising rents.
Many items inside Espresso Profeta will be on sale through Friday, including furniture and porcelain, before the lease ends, Langford said. Espresso Profeta sells a variety of baked goods, grab and go items, coffee and tea.
Langford said she considered relocating Profeta, but the building’s unique atmosphere could not be replicated. The coffee shop’s special feel – with indoor and outdoor seating surrounded by art and a courtyard – attracted customers, she added.
Langford spoke to multiple people over the past few years interested in buying the business or taking over the lease, she said, but it never worked out. Since the property was put on the market in January, however, many people have looked at the space, Langford added.
Espresso Profeta became a popular gathering spot the moment it opened in Westwood Village, said Steven Sann, chairman of the Westwood Community Council.
“That little courtyard in the middle is absolutely one of the jewel spots of Westwood Village,” Sann said. “To be able to go out and sit in that gorgeous little courtyard, that little patio or even in that main room that they have. That building is vintage, classic Westwood Village.”
Alexander Ferrer, a geography doctoral student, said Espresso Profeta was the only coffee shop of its kind in the area because of its specialty coffee.
“It’s the only cafe locally that does the kind of third-wave specialty coffee that they do there,” Ferrer said. “It sucks for a business that has been an institution for students in Westwood and at UCLA for decades to close, but also to lose one of these specialty businesses, and espresso in general in the city, that was doing something a little bit different than a lot of the other places.”
Espresso Profeta baristas make their espresso using Espresso Vivace beans from Seattle and by pulling double ristretto shots – a technique that uses the same amount of coffee grounds but stops the extraction process early, which makes the drink more concentrated and less bitter.
Commercial real estate is expensive in Westwood, so buyers often charge high rents to pay mortgages or other loans, said Ferrer, who studies tenant organizing and gentrification. That leads to high turnover and vacancy rates in most Westwood establishments, he added.
Westwood Village’s vacancy rate was 13% as of October, according to a report by the Westwood Village Improvement Association.
“Our rent has spiraled out of control, and the truth is that things might have been different if COVID never happened,” Langford said. “Before COVID happened, we were a thriving business – it was COVID that started the whole downward spiral for our business and us really struggling to stay open.”
Though the FIFA World Cup was expected to bring more activity to Westwood, Profeta lost business during that time, Langford said. She added that the summer is always particularly bad for business, partially because UCLA students are gone for the break.
Langford said she opened Espresso Profeta next to Morgan & Company Jewellers, which her father operated in Westwood for more than 45 years.
“It used to be all one space,” Langford said. “When my dad’s jewelry store was there, the two spaces linked up, and me and my dad shared the back space.”
Langford said Espresso Profeta worked to consistently make high-quality coffee during its time in Westwood.
“We decided that it was the right time to close,” Langford said. “Twenty years is a long time, and it’s because of the current financial climate. It’s really, incredibly hard to keep open a business like ours, and honestly, in the next five to 10 years, I don’t think there’s going to be as many small coffee shops like us.”
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