Tully’s out, Uptown Espresso in

June 21st, 2011 · 27 Comments

After 15 years in the Magnolia Village, Tully’s Coffee will be vacating their location on McGraw Street at the end of July. This from the store manager who says Tully’s final day of operation in Magnolia will be July 24. We are told that the current Tully’s employees have been offered transfers to other Tully’s locations.

The lease has been awarded to Uptown Espresso, a local coffee company with eight other stores in the Puget Sound region. Uptown Espresso is known as the home of the Velvet Foam. The closest current location is lower Queen Anne.

The building owners said they were hesitant to comment on the coffee house switch, citing the sensitivities of the transaction that is still in progress.

Thanks to contributor Steven Smalley for this story.

Tags: Uncategorized

Billybibbet

Tullys is trying to keep quiet that they are going to be closing more stores…they are running out of cash. Any store that is under performing is not going to get the lease renewed. Who knows, they are so short of cash, they may simply need to drastically reduce operations.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2014591515_tullys25.html With the sale of so much of their assets, such as the Japanese market, roasting facility and wholesale operations, they are a “shell” of what they once were.
Billybibbet

BTW, hurray for Uptown Espresso…finally you can get a superior cup of coffee in Magnolia.
BicycleJoe

Great news! We need better coffee around here.
Look out Starbucks

I’ll miss Tully’s – but Uptown Espresso is terrific. Spent a lot of time at the locations on QA and Belltown. Good stuff.
Welcome Uptown!

That’s fantastic news! Uptown Espresso makes an excellent Americano, and their baked goods are divine. It’s the next best thing if we can’t get Espresso Vivace to open a Magnolia outpost.
val

I hope they keep the layout … love the comfy armchairs around the fire! I’ll miss the intense dark chocolate hot cocoas
Jilji

Sad! I love the Tully’s Magnolia peeps. Great gals who take amazing care of their customers. I hope Uptown will offer the same homey vibe.
Monty

Yay for unique baked goods and some funkiness (instead of the stale corporate vibe). I will admit I liked the fireplace, but the rest was too “let’s utilize the retail space.” Good luck to U.E.

Jody

Maybe Uptown Espresso will keep the fireplace ….

Anthony

I like Tully’s, but there’s no room in the market for a mid-sized chain that defines itself as “not-Starbucks”. For all the criticism of Starbucks they have exquisite attention to product and marketing detail, and enormous economy of scale – you can’t compete with them head-on. With the repositioning of Seattle’s Best and the acquisition of Peet’s they have almost the whole market covered. The future is Starbucks, and tiny niche specialists with loyal fans – and nothing in between.

Anthony

Also, I will miss this Tully’s! Friendly staff, nice vibe, and a great place to hang out for hours.

Czb29

I liked Tully’s better than Starbuck’s but agree that Sbux kicked their butts from a market capture standpoint. On top of many other issues, I think the more limited hours at Tully’s hurt them. Don’t know how many times I tried to enter Tully’s at a reasonable hour and it had already closed – needed to go Kitty corner to the Sbux. Only a matter of time until people just avoid the detour. I thought the baristas/manager at Tully’s were great.
Jake Randolph

Total upgrade! C’mon people, Uptown is about 1000 times better than Tully’s. Their whole approach is more artisanal. Agree they should keep the fireplace, though. Are you listening Uptown? Keep the fireplace.
Jollygood

I’ve been driving to Queen Anne to Vita for coffee. This is AWESOME for me! I’m psyched for the velvet foam!
Dmarieg

Love UPTOWN!
Anonymous

Great news for the neighborhood. Welcome Uptown!
Peter

Hello Magnolia,
As Uptown owners and Magnolia residents, Dow Lucurell and I are very excited to bring Uptown Espresso to Magnolia Village.

If you’re not familiar with Uptown Espresso, we pride ourselves on:

-Velvet Foam. A precise method of steaming milk and preparing, finishing and presenting our drinks.
-Great Coffee. A proprietary roast from Fonte that makes great beverages and stands on it’s own as a perfect coffee or espresso.
-Baked Goods. Fresh and made daily from scratch at Uptown’s Queen Anne bakery.
-Cool Environment. Shops that are welcoming and open to the neighborhood.
-Great People. Baristas that bring it all together to create a perfect experience for every customer.

The lease was recently finalized and we are working on a transition plan that includes many critical components including people, store layout and opening date.
We’ve heard from several of you via/our website so far and will do our best to communicate developments. If you have comments, or suggestions on how we can best
keep you updated, please feel free to reach us via/www.velvetfoam.com or me at peter@velvetfoam.com.

Dow is Magnolia born and raised. I am a Magnolia resident of 4 years. We’re excited about our new short commute, serving you Uptown soon and making our
neighbors proud.

Peter Noble
peter@velvetfoam.com

But keep the fireplace!

Welcome to the neighborhood!
Danny

Welcome! Hopeful you are mindful that you are taking over a location that has a different set of clientele demographics than your other locations. Will you accommodate an older crowd that has made this its home base? Coming around with the coffee pot to refill the coffees? Helping the disabled into their cars? Keeping loyalty coffee cards on file?
Keeping the community bulletin board? Playing music that appeals to an older group? Will you give Tully’s baristas a chance to work for you?
I appreciate that you may want to pursue new customers but please be mindful not to ignore a pretty large group of regulars that has gathered at Tully’s for years!

guest

Great news!
Snarkbark

Gonna miss Tully’s. Wouldn’t set foot in a Starbucks if they were giving their coffee away……

Let’s hope the new place is good. Certainly a lot of good reviews so I’m optimistic.
Anonymous

Great news! MBT Shoes
TrappedinMagnolia

This is good news, but the best coffee in Magnolia hands down is at Mondello.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Sydney-Wissel/100000117671320 Sydney Wissel

Yeah! I love Uptown.
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When read in portions, this collection of essays is
insightful, introspective and offers Gilmore Girl fans another way to attach
themselves to the show and become better acquainted with the two quick-witted
women that have been the foundation of a TV series that is still garnering fans
and popularity no less than 5 years after the series finale.
KRC

Excited to see locally owned Uptown Espresso here in Magnolia. I’m not a fan of Starbucks or Tully’s as their coffee and coffee drinks are FAR sub-par to Uptown, Caffe Ladro, Vivace and Magnolia’s own Serendipity (which serves Vita). That said I’m hoping both Serendipity and Uptown will be able to retain the Tully’s crowd rather then having them cross the street to Starbucks. Happy to have two great neighborhood coffee shops in the Mag now!