2 locally owned Huntsville coffee shops to close soon
Of all the coffeeshops in Huntsville, there’s just one where you can also pick up a Rolling Stones or Joni Mitchell album. And that’s Offbeat Coffee Studio. More than some caffeinated vinyl record store gimmick, Offbeat earned a rep for serving what many consider some of the best if not the best coffee in town, soon after opening its original Campus No. 805 location in early 2019.
Later on, things were going good enough Offbeat owners and married couple Kyle and Anna Husband opened a second location. A drive-thru, made from repurposed cargo containers and strategically set near gate 9 of Redstone Arsenal, where tens of thousands of civilian and contract employees of NASA, Department of Defense and Department of Justice work.
Now, unfortunately, Offbeat has reached its coda. On Monday, the Husbands announced via Facebook post they’re shutting down the business. “After some tough decisions and much thought,” the couple posted, “we have decided we will be closing our doors at both locations on August 21st. This was an extremely tough decision.”
Kyle Husband tells AL.com that food cost inflation was a “big contributing factor” in their decision to close. Combined, both locations of Offbeat employee a total of eight people.
The Husbands started Offbeat in 2018 as a pop-up business. They’d set up at places like Straight to Ale Brewing, bringing in their coffee gear and crates of used records to sell, everything from Johnny Cash to Hall & Oates to Yeaslayer.
Customer favorites at Offbeat’s brick-and-mortar locations included cappuccinos, cortados and cereal-milk lattes. They obtained their coffee beans from Arkansas roaster Onyx Coffee Lab. In 2019, AL.com featured Offbeat in our “The ultimate Huntsville weekend: 30 local must-dos” list, amid local classics like Monte Sano State Park and Voodoo Lounge.
In their closing announcement post Monday, Kyle and Anna wrote, “We’ve had lots of beautiful moments owning Offbeat Coffee, along with lots of tough moments. We struggled back and forth on this decision because we feel as if Offbeat is our child but ultimately this is the right decision for our family at this time.”
Commenters on that post included Sharon Singletary, who wrote, “Will miss you guys. Thanks for the great coffee and wonderful service.” Laure Taylor wrote, “What a gift you have been to our community.” Joshua Burel added, “I’m so sad to hear this. The best coffee shop in Huntsville hands down.”
Before Offbeat, Kyle worked the occasional shift at Echo Records, the now-shuttered downtown vinyl shop I used to own. Anna Husband is an accomplished tattoo artist who also works at Huntsville’s Arcadia Tattoo.
Offbeat is the latest of a slew of local food and drink business to close in recent weeks, following the likes of Toybox Bistro, Salty Nut Brewing and Fractal Brewing Project.
Offbeat’s announcement post closed with this hearfelt passage:
“We will look back on owning this shop as a happy time in our life. We are sad to no longer be a part of your daily life serving you coffee and seeing your smiling faces. We have truly enjoyed getting to know and love the Huntsville community and watching the city grow around us. We have been blessed with the most amazing staff over the past five years and to them we are so grateful. We will consider them part of our family forever. Thank you to our loyal customers, employees, friends and family. We love you and look forward to what the future brings.”
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