After 9 years, popular Jacksonville coffee shop closing, but its mission will continue

After nearly nine years, a popular Jacksonville coffeehouse that celebrates its neighborhood while serving up freshly roasted specialty coffee and scratch-made baked goods is getting ready to close.

Vagabond Coffee Co., a Murray Hill mainstay at 934 Edgewood Ave. S., is shutting its doors to focus on family as well as new endeavors involving its nearby roastery, catering, special events and wholesale business, Will Morgan, founder and owner, told the Times-Union.

In the heart of the Murray Hill business district, the coffee shop is next door to Murray Hill Theatre. It's an easy walk from the landmark original Dreamette as well as El Jefe Tex-Mex restaurant and Chancho King, the first Ecuadoran restaurant in Jacksonville.

Morgan said the coffeehouse will welcome guests through the end of December. He announced the pending closure and concept change on Nov. 6 on Instagram.

"Although our beloved shop is coming to a close, we will continue to do ALL things VAGABOND. We will have pop-ups and events, catering orders, wholesale coffee, partnerships and other creative endeavors," he posted, referring customers to their associated businesses VGBD Creative and The Vagabond Flea, which will remain open.

The specific closing date hasn't been finalized. Morgan said he'll announce it two weeks before the coffeehouse's final day.

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Also an artist, Morgan emphasizes "this is not the end of anything but the beginning of something different" — likening it to "sending the kids off to college."

"We are really working toward just sustaining the community that we've built. Because to me, the 'vagabond,' it's never really been about just selling coffee. … For me, it has always been about creating something bigger than myself for everyone other than myself," he said.

Vagabond Coffee, he noted, "has given life to so many people" not just him, his wife, Samantha, and their two young sons. It's been a place where people have shared life, he said.

Since the coffeehouse opened, strangers became friends or fell in love, couples celebrated the birth of a child and families shared memories of loved ones who passed away.

But over the years, Morgan said it's just become harder economically, and the neighborhood has changed.

Many core customers — young families, young professionals — have moved out of Murray Hill over the past decade. The ongoing proliferation of "great coffee shops all over Jacksonville" also has changed the business climate, he said.

Vagabond Coffee is evolving to meet those and future challenges.

Morgan said they're planning to build a small pop-up coffee bar at Vagabond's roastery, 927 Edgewood Ave. S., which is across the street from the coffee shop.

"Our plan is, hopefully once a month, to have coffee service," he said. It also will continue wholesale operations.

They're also expanding The Vagabond Flea to a second location in the city's Urban Core at least once a month. Those details are being finalized and he hopes to open the new site by the end of the year.

"I just want to make this city better and greater for my kids. They're 7 and 5 and I want to build a better Jacksonville for them and all my friends' kids, your kids and the future," said Morgan, noting other projects are planned but it's too soon to announce them.

Vagabond Coffee: How it started

Morgan and his wife launched Vagabond Coffee in the couple's 1963 Scotty Highlander camper with a straightforward business philosophy: "Community. People. Coffee."

"We hold true that we are all vagabonds on our own journeys, in our own way. Our mission is to create an environment where everyone is welcome to come together, build community and create their own individual journeys," they say on the Vagabond Coffee website.

Their first pop-up was in the Laura Street Trio in downtown Jacksonville. Next was James Weldon Johnson Park across from Jacksonville City Hall. Then in August 2015, Vagabond Coffee opened its brick-and-mortar coffee shop and roastery in Murray Hill.

The roastery currently offers four small-batch coffees with "unique flavors and carefully sourced beans" that are roasted several times a week. It has the capacity for more. In addition, they do "private labeling," which is coffee roasted for other businesses, he said.

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Vagabond launched a Murray Hill 'renaissance'

Longtime Murray Hill residents say Vagabond Coffee is more than just a cafe. It sparked a "renaissance of our neighborhood," several told the Times-Union.

"Vagabond really did bring a community feel into the neighborhood that wasn't there before. Neighbors met neighbors. It's a family-friendly destination, a cozy place to work or have meetings or to study," said Tiffany Valla Hutto, a Murray Hill resident since 2007 who's been a Vagabond Coffee shop customer since it opened.

Valla Hutto, a former member of the Murray Hill Preservation Association board, also noted that Vagabond Coffee was instrumental in the community's growth.

"The neighborhood is growing and evolving. Will's contributions set that in motion and I'm excited to see what's next for him. I’m sure most of the neighbors are," Valla Hutto said.

Vagabond Coffee has helped launch other businesses over the years by hosting pop-ups — especially during the COVID-19 pandemic — and via The Vagabond Flea.

Restaurants previously at Vagabond Coffee: Brine, a pop-up crudo bar, Good Dough, a gourmet doughnut and coffee shop, and Chancho King, now a brick-and-mortar just down the street.

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More than just a neighborhood coffee shop

Lindsey Morando, owner and founder of BLOOM Flower Truck says her mobile flower shop is rooted at Vagabond Coffee.

Morando became a coffee shop customer in early 2019 after moving to Murray Hill. Before long, she shared her dream about the fresh flower truck with Morgan.

"Immediately, he was like, 'yeah, bring the truck around and park it in the front space here and we'll absolutely host you whenever you want', she said, recalling the soft launch of her business for Galentine's Day in February 2022.

BLOOM Flower Truck soon became a regular pop-up outside Vagabond Coffee.

The coffee shop also is a gathering place for nonprofits and business groups. Most recently, it hosted crochet and knitting meet-ups.

"They really have kind of fostered a community of Murray Hill small businesses and beyond of course. But they really are the core of it, for sure," Morando said.

Although the storefront is closing, Morando and others are optimistic the community goodwill Vagabond Coffee fostered will continue.

Morgan said if it wasn't for the support of customers, neighbors and the overall close-knit Murray Hill community, Vagabond Coffee wouldn't be ready to evolve.

Teresa Stepzinski is the dining reporter for the Times-Union. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @TeresaStepz or reach her via email at [email protected].

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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Vagabond Coffee closing Murray Hill coffee shop. What's next