Downtown Appleton coffee shop closes permanently due to financial strain

Jelissa Burns, Appleton Post-Crescent

Wed, May 14, 2025, 11:20 AM 2 min read

Lawlss Coffee, 233 E. College Ave., is permanently closed arsenic of May 13, arsenic proprietor Stephan Witchell said helium was struggling to support it open.

Witchell was the sole proprietor of the Appleton determination and said it had been struggling financially for the past 3 years.

"I got myself successful implicit my caput and it's hard to support up with the currency travel and everything else," Witchell said. "I've been utilizing wealth from my different businesses to wage for the Appleton determination and support it going."

According to public records, Lawlss Coffee owes $2,235.94 to the Department of Revenue for delinquent taxes.

"I conscionable support pouring wealth and clip into this, taking from different parts of my concern and taking distant from my intelligence health, truthful I conscionable decided to chopped ties with it," Witchell said.

Witchell, who has bulk ownership of the Neenah and Sturgeon Bay locations, said helium plans to absorption connected the remaining java shops. Neither of the remaining locations are successful jeopardy of closing according to Witchell.

He besides plans to prioritize the Lawlss java roasting line.

"My passionateness is truly successful roasting java and supporting different java shops," Witchell said. "I learned that I similar java shops, but owning and operating isn't truly my beardown suit."

Lawlss Coffee beans tin beryllium recovered astatine Woodman's, section java shops and astatine immoderate of its locations. Witchell said he's successful the process of getting them sold astatine Festival Foods arsenic well.

Despite the fiscal struggles, Witchell said helium is grateful for the clip helium had moving the Appleton Lawlss Coffee.

"I consciousness precise fortunate and privileged to person been capable to commencement a determination successful a gathering that archetypal ignited my emotion for java erstwhile it was Pilgrim's Cafe," Witchell said. "While the past 3 years person been truly hard, I'm looking guardant to the aboriginal and shifting my absorption to roasting coffee."

Customers with acquisition cards to the Appleton Lawlss Coffee tin redeem them astatine the Neenah location.

For much accusation connected Lawlss Coffee sojourn lawlsscoffee.com.

This nonfiction primitively appeared connected Appleton Post-Crescent: Lawlss Coffee successful Appleton closes permanently owed to fiscal strain