Local

Tully's Coffee closing its doors temporarily

SEATTLE — Tully’s Coffee, which is the company that was supposed to give Starbucks a run for its money, is closing its doors –- for now.

KIRO 7 ran into a lot of people on Friday who were just finding out that Tully's Coffee is closing many of its locations temporarily.

“You want to go to real coffee shops and it's sad that I come here and it's closed,” said Tristyn Hollister, who is visiting from Riverside, Calif.

"I just put $30 bucks on my Tully's card on Sunday, too," Eric Donaldson, who used to always go to Tully’s, said.

Why is Tully's Coffee making this decision to close its locations, at least temporarily?

KIRO 7 reached out to the corporate office in Seattle asking a few questions.

They emailed back with this statement:

"All of the store closures relate to beginning the rebranding process, which takes months. We had to exhaust all existing inventory for the rebranding."

According to The Associated Press, Tully's Coffee is temporarily closing stores, citing a lack of coffee.

This is the latest string of financial and legal troubles for Tully's Coffee.

In December 2017, the Seattle Times reported that a landlord sued to evict Tully's from its Union Station store..

"It's very sad,” said Thomas Bissonnette, a West Seattle native. “It was a good company when it first started but, you know, these are some tough times."

Ben Vaagen, who works in the area and saw an eviction notice at the Tully's Western Avenue office, said he also saw chains on the doors a few months ago.

"They had good people working there,” said Vaagen shaking his head. “They showed up for work and the doors were locked."

The company was purchased out of bankruptcy in 2013 by Michael Avenatti.

A spokesperson for Tully’s Coffee told KIRO 7 that Avenatti is no longer the owner, and now serves as the General Counsel for the company.

Avenatti is the attorney for Stormy Daniels, who was reportedly paid $130,000 to stay quiet about an alleged affair with President Trump.

"Mr. Avenatti should probably not be involved in any sort of business with regards to this,” Pavan Vangipuram, a Detroit native, said. “This is very dirty political business."

As for the future of Tully's Coffee?

"We'll miss you if you're really gone," said Donaldson.

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