Coffee News
Dallas' Fiction Coffee closes all brick-and-mortar locations
Espresso is out at Fiction Coffee.
An indie Dallas coffee chain is closing its brick-and-mortar locations: Fiction Coffee, which has been in operation at the corner of Ross and Hall near downtown Dallas for a decade, is closing that location as well as a sibling location in Raleigh, North Carolina.
According to a post online, the shop's final day will be December 8.
"The saddest part of any beloved story is the last chapter," the post said. "For us here at Ross & Hall and Fiction-Crabtree, that time has come. After many years in business, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our brick and mortar locations. Our final day of slinging’ drinks and escaping reality is Friday December 8."
The post said that the Raleigh location would be replaced by a new operator, but no replacement was announced for Dallas.
The chain, which was acquired by coworking company Common Desk in late 2017, also has locations inside Common Desk coworking locations, and those will remain open.
"Moving forward we’re focusing on building the Fiction experience within our Common Desk cooking spaces," the post said. "You can find all Fiction news over on Common Desk Social channels and website and hope you’ll stop by to see us for a day pass, indulge in your drink of choice, and stay close by to see our story evolve. See you later in a coworking space near you."
The chain had seen some shrinkage in recent months, with shorter hours and actual closures, including their location in Victory Park which closed in October, and a location in Houston that closed in August.
Fiction started out as Method Coffee, which initially opened at Ross and Hall in 2014. Common Desk took over the space in November 2017, rebranding it as Fiction Coffee and kicking off with a holiday pop-up event called Deck The Hall Street which became an annual tradition.
As Common Desk grew and opened new locations, they invariably included an outlet of Fiction Coffee.
The chain also opened at the Continental Gin building where they expanded their menu by offering bagels, salads, house-made wraps, and sandwiches from The Commissary. But after two years that closed as well.
Although their post did not explain the reason for the closures and a spokesperson was unavailable for comment, it's notable that the Ross & Hall location was what has become an "old-school" coffeehouse, where you walk inside the store and possibly even consume your coffee on-site in a ceramic mug.
The unfortunate trend lately in coffee has been the less-civilized drive-thru with planet-despoiling disposable cups.
Common Desk also filed for Chapter 11 voluntary bankruptcy on November 6. They were acquired by WeWork in March 2022. WeWork, which is also under bankruptcy proceedings, is currently closing at least 70 underperforming locations.
