Kuumba Juice and Coffee, a fixture along the Beerline Trail in Milwaukee's Harambee neighborhood, will close its doors Sunday, Nov. 15, according to owner Alex Hagler. The shop, which opened at the corner of North Richards Street and East Keefe Avenue, is shutting down after roughly three years, with Hagler pointing to rising material costs and small profit margins as the deciding factors.
The cafe was opened in February 2024 by Hagler along with Joe Ferch and Ellie Jackson, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. From the start, the team set out to provide good coffee, fresh juice, healthy foods and what Hagler described as a third space for the community — a gathering spot beyond home and work along the popular trail.
Hagler said the stresses of running a food and beverage business piled onto the financial pressures that ultimately pushed the closure. “The writing was on the wall, and it is a sign of the times. A lot of small businesses are closing,” he said, according to the same report. He added that the cost of everything contributed to the decision.
A Community Says Goodbye
In the days since the announcement, many neighbors and residents have stopped by the shop to express their gratitude for the cafe, the Journal Sentinel reported. Hagler said he felt supported by the community throughout the business's run, even as he described operating Kuumba as a ton of work that was painfully fun.
Hagler said he plans to take time to rest before pursuing something new. “Rest is definitely needed before I jump in something new,” he said. No new business or operator is currently scheduled to take over the building, and updates on a future use for the space will be posted on Kuumba's social media page, per the same report.
Part Of A Rough Stretch For Milwaukee Food Businesses
Kuumba's closure lands amid a broader run of financial strain for small food and beverage operators across the city. Almost every restaurant owner interviewed for a Milwaukee Magazine report said customers had tightened their belts even as costs kept climbing. Strange Town owner Mia LeTendre estimated her overall spending had risen at least 15%, while Lulu Cafe & Bar's January energy bill came in $1,000 higher than the year before, the magazine reported.
Those pressures have already claimed other longtime spots. Beans & Barley announced in December 2025 that it would close permanently at the end of January, and the National Cafe, a breakfast and lunch spot that had run for 17 years, also announced it was done, according to Milwaukee Magazine. Strange Town warned around the same time that its slowest weeks since 2020 meant it might not survive another two weeks at that pace.
The cost pressures extend beyond any single ingredient or bill. USDA figures cited in the magazine's reporting show food prices rose 23.6% between 2020 and 2024 and kept climbing, if more modestly, into 2025, while beef prices alone were about 15% higher last year according to Consumer Price Index data. Wisconsin Public Radio reported that Milwaukee restaurant owners have pointed to the rising cost of goods, tariffs and the broader economy's effect on customers as contributing factors, with Mekong Cafe co-owner Sichanh Volp noting that regulars who once came in two or three times a week now show up only once or twice a month.
For now, Kuumba Juice and Coffee's final days are set, with its last pours scheduled for Nov. 15. What becomes of the Harambee corner it occupied along the Beerline Trail remains an open question the cafe says it will answer on its own timeline.
