Helen Smith; Guest Writer; smithhe@plu.edu
Northern Pacific Coffee Company, located on Garfield Street, closed earlier this January due to low revenue. The coffee shop has been a staple of the Pacific Lutheran University experience for many students.
The coffee shop hosted open mic nights for local musicians and stayed open late for students during midterm and finals weeks. Many students used it as a place to gather with their peers.
Junior Madisen Crowley said she frequented the coffee shop with her friends.
“They had good stuff, it was solid. It was more about the atmosphere there. It was super chill, it’s definitely very artsy,” Crowley said. “It was kind of like in the first Harry Potter where they go into that cafe before they get to Diagon Alley, that’s what it was like. It was a really good location, I hope something cool moves into that space.”
Now that the cafe has closed, Crowley plans to take her business to other coffee shops around PLU like Starbucks or 208 Garfield.
Senior Dylan Ward is also sad to see the Parkland staple closing. However, the closure doesn’t come as a shock.
NPCC has “always been a staple of PLU since I was a freshman,” Ward said. “I’m not that surprised it closed.”
Ward referred to the coffee shop’s long history of openings and closings, with different owners taking over the space throughout the years. A PLU alum bought the coffee shop in January 2016, hoping to open it back up because of NPCC’s importance to the community of Parkland.
Just over a year later, it is closing again because of similar issues. According to NPCC’s Facebook page, low profits combined with the high costs of keeping it open has been a challenge for every owner. Owners did not respond to request for comment.
NPCC’s latest owners listed the contact information of the landlord in the hopes that the cafe may continue its history of changing hands.
