Breaking: Bushwick’s Walter’s Coffee Will Close on Sunday Amid a Legal Battle

Magdalena Waz

@ThrowBigWords

Today’s serving of surprise Bushwick news comes in the form of another abrupt closure, which we truly hope is only temporary. Walter’s Coffee will be closing its doors on Sunday in the midst of an dispute between owners.

Manager Rylan Bailey tells Bushwick Daily that two of the LLC’s owners—whose full names he doesn’t know—are hoping to part ways with the third owner, Deniz Kosan, who they allege has been taking money out of the LLC, making it impossible to fund the business’s continued operation. 

Bailey has been working at Walter’s both as assistant manager and manager since the shop opened less than a year ago on Irving Avenue and Starr Street, but he says inconsistencies with the books started cropping up three to four months ago. Things truly came to a head last week when he was unable to pay baristas on time due to these financial issues.

Kosan counters that “the overall costs were more than we have expected. The allegations are totally misleading. Fact is we have invested money instead taking of[f] from the business. We have been waiting for financial transfers from oversees, due to the political situation and emergency of state in Turkey, we couldn’t support our Bushwick location.” Kosan is the founder of the original location in Istanbul and currently lives there.

The eventual plan, according to Bailey, is to establish a new coffee shop in the same space with coffee and good hospitality as the main focus. “I feel good about the business’s new direction,” he says. The management will stay the same, but the entire space will be rebranded under a new name and shift the focus back to coffee with the possible addition of a roaster on the premises.

Through Sunday, they will be operating on a cash only basis and serving their delicious caffeinated beverages to the shop’s many fans, and Bailey, for one, seems optimistic about the next steps once the legal hurdles are cleared.

Featured by Cristin Noonan for Bushwick Daily.