Green House Coffee + Affogato Bar will join a growing list of downtown Springfield coffee shops that have shuttered in the past year.
Green House will close at some point in the relative future, but the last day of business still hasn't been definitively set, Owner Caleb Alwardt said by phone May 14. Alwardt declined to comment further on the motivation for shuttering the business, or the timeline to close it.
Located on South Jefferson Avenue in the Wilhoit Plaza between Walnut and Elm, Green House joins two other downtown coffee shops that have closed since the end of 2023.
In December 2023, Black Lab Coffee Company closed its downtown location permanently and announced plans to open a new store in south Springfield. In late April, Classic Rock Coffee Company and Kitchen closed its downtown store, a franchise of the Springfield staple coffee business of the same name.
It's not all closings when it comes to downtown coffee shop news. At the start of 2024, Mother's Brewing Company opened the Cufflink Room coffee shop, facing Grant Avenue, in a new wing of the company's headquarters. Mudhouse Coffee, Kingdom Coffee, the Coffee Ethic and European Café are all operating downtown.
Green House is a full-service coffee shop featuring traditional espresso beverages and light food and pastries. It offers a variety of affogatos, a combination of espresso, ice cream and sometimes liqueur. The coffee shop exclusively uses beans from Onyx Coffee Lab, based in Northwest Arkansas.
Green House, which launched in late 2021, doubled as a plant shop, featuring a retail section with plants from Springfield-based Lee Botanical Co., according to the Springfield Business Journal. Green House is Alwardt's first business venture.
Alwardt is the registered agent for CALV Concepts, LLC, according to Missouri Secretary of State records. The shopping center Green House is housed in is owned by Wilhoit Plaza L and P, LLC, according to Greene County Assessor's Office records. Wilhoit Plaza L and P is registered to Janet Ann Susdorf. The shopping center had an appraised value of $2.98 million.
Green House's website has expired as of May 14, but the company's social media accounts are still running. Its Facebook page highlighted a Green House Garage Sale May 11 and 12.
