The first location of Caribou Coffee, a coffee and handcrafted beverage chain created in Minnesota 31 years ago by John Puckett, will close on Dec. 12. The store is on France Ave. in Edina, Minn. 

The Caribou Coffee chain has achieved great success over the years and has over 700 locations. The chain has gone international, but the headquarters remain in its birthplace, Minnesota. The company has acquired many awards since its creation, including the Roasters Choice Tasting Competition Gold Award and the Paytronix Loyaltees Award for Business Impact in 2019. 

Caribou Coffee prioritizes innovation not only in beverages but also in the community among coworkers.  “I like working at Caribou because my coworkers help make it fun,” a current employee at Caribou Coffee location on Interlachen and Vernon, junior Ruby Petrusek, said. 

The closure of this location is not without sadness. “It was a hard decision,” Lucas Lemmer, general manager of the original Caribou location, said in an interview with MPR on Nov. 9. “It’s sad, but we made the choice for the necessary reasons.” This location is a particularly busy area on the edge of Edina and the southwest Linden Hills neighborhood. Consequently, traffic conditions are the cause of the store’s shutdown. However, the company remains loyal to its customers and intends to continue serving them in their stores. “The decision to close any location is never taken lightly, and is dependent on many factors,” Caribou Coffee said in a statement on Nov. 10. “Caribou remains focused on meeting our guests where they are at, and like any retail business, that means adapting to changing traffic, experience, and economic patterns. We continue to invest in Edina.”