HubBub Coffee, at 37th and Spruce Streets, will close permanently on Friday, May 11th. According to HubBub barista Jimmy Bellew, the store is closing for reasons of "business growth then implosion." The coffee chain is known for its small batch brews and its calm ambiance next to the bustle of the Quad and Wawa.
Founder and owner Drew Crockett (C'05) created HubBub in West Philadelphia in 2009 as a mobile food and coffee truck, which grew to include the University City location, a location in Radnor, and another in downtown Philadelphia. The location on Penn's campus opened in 2013. But HubBub also started on Penn's campus as one of the first of a "new wave" of gourmet food trucks—Crockett started selling coffee on 38th and Spruce Streets in 2009; the truck is still in operation in various locations around the city. The news of this closure comes almost exactly a year after Crockett announced the closure of the HubBub Coffee on 17th and Arch Streets.
In 2016, the Penn location hosted a "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life" event, for which the store was turned into a quasi–replica of Luke's Diner, a favorite haunt of the show's characters.
It's unclear as of yet what business will replace HubBub in the 3736 Spruce Street space. Jimmy, though, has a theory: he thinks the landlord is looking for another coffee shop.
