Ithaca Coffee Company closing Triphammer location, moving café to Hancock Street

By Jaime Cone Hughes

Ithaca Coffee Company (ICC) is moving its espresso bar and coffee retail business to its roasting location — 702 Hancock St., Ithaca — and closing its Triphammer Marketplace location very soon.

“It’s business as usual through the end of 2024, and the Triphammer espresso bar will remain open in January and February 2025 while we build out our Hancock space,” stated a press release sent out by ICC last week. 

ICC obtained its full liquor license last year so that The Roost cocktail bar could serve more than just wine and beer. The Roost will be open until mid-January, and there will be a “last call” celebration there.

“We want to thank our loyal customers for 20 years at Triphammer Marketplace,” said the press release. “During that time, we’ve put our heart and soul into the business, growing and developing our business to meet customer expectations. And while we will disappoint some loyal customers, we’ve decided it’s time to step back, and focus on coffee and our location at 702 Hancock.”

The company plans to renovate the Hancock Street space, which it owns, to add an espresso bar and the ability to provide fresh roasted coffee on site. The site will also host a “pop-up” version of its Holiday Marketplace at the Hancock location next year and will keep the public posted about that development on its website.

ICC was established 20 years ago in Triphammer Marketplace. The company roasted coffee in the back of the shop until 2013, when the Hancock Street building was purchased for that purpose.

Another ICC location, in the Gateway Commons building in Ithaca’s downtown, opened in 2007 and closed in 2020.

The Triphammer location was taking up too much time with not enough payoff, said Julie Crowley, who owns Ithaca Coffee Company with Lisa Kerslake. Crowley also owns Triphammer Wines and Spirits, a family-owned business which has operated in Ithaca since 1963.

“It’s just a totally different market, post-COVID,” Crowley explained. “It is a business that requires owners to be there and be active, so if we could find some young people with energy [to buy it], it’s a great location.”

Crowley said that she has also noticed a change in clientele since the pandemic. “There are more people working at home,” she said. “Less happy hours. It’s stuff like that that compounds.”

There is daily foot traffic from the customers who frequent the espresso bar, so the regular customer base already exists in the location, Crowley pointed out, though she added that she hopes her loyal customers will follow ICC to the new Hancock Street location.

“We want to invest in our own property,” Crowley said, adding that the espresso bar will be open from around 7 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. “We’d be adding to a depressed area — adding some positive activity.”

She added she is hopeful that potential plans to build an intersection at Route 13 and Fifth Street — a project that has been under discussion for years — will come to fruition eventually and give drivers easier access. 

The new café location will house the coffee-roasting operation, the kitchen for the baked goods and a seating area. She said they plan to serve breakfast and lunch sandwiches. Crowley said that renovating this location will allow the company to bring customers in for tours so they can see how the coffee is roasted.

“It’s a nice space people will want to frequent for our excellent coffee and will be a comfortable space,” she said.

“I think it’s going to give us the visibility to grow our brand,” she added. “I think we could expand regionally with packaged coffee or espresso bars.”

Customers can always buy coffee online with the option to pick up their order at the Hancock location. Packaged coffee is currently available at Wegmans, P&C Fresh and Doordash.

Crowley is happy to talk to anyone who may be interested in the retail operation at Triphammer. “We have a great location, next to Triphammer Wines & Spirits, and a loyal customer base,” she said. “There’s opportunity there for someone that wants to put in the energy and time to take it to the next level.”