By Sara Beth Williams–
A specialty coffee shop closed last weekend in Citrus Heights, after announcing the pending closure earlier this month.
Black Sails Coffee Lounge, a locally owned coffee shop that opened in July in the Marketplace at Birdcage, posted an update on their last day, expressing gratitude to the community with a visual of a sea captain on a ship looking into a sunset-stained ocean on the horizon.
Head barista and manager Hayden Stansbury said a week before closing that the Marketplace at Birdcage is planning to house another business in the same suite. While the ownership was offered alternative locations within the center, Stansbury said the proposed spaces were significantly smaller and wouldn’t meet the needs of the coffee company or its customers.
Kathilynn Carpenter, executive director for the Sunrise MarketPlace business improvement district, confirmed that the coffee shop was a temporary tenant, and said after a permanent tenant was found, the alternative spaces offered were not adequate for the coffee shop to be able to offer seating. Carpenter also said the district was helping the coffee company search for another location in the district, but that Black Sails also has had interest from others outside of Citrus Heights.
A site map for the Marketplace at Birdcage on Gerrity Group, the property management company’s website, lists Rose Nail Lounge as “Coming Soon” in the location where Black Sails currently resides.
“I love this place,” Stansbury told The Sentinel, noting that part of Black Sails’ charm comes from its spacious interior and its unique placement along the walkway that connects two shopping centers.
The Sentinel reached out to one of the owners for comment before the shop closed, but did not hear back.
