Spilling the Beans plans to close its doors

From staff reports

An Oil City business, which for nearly two decades has been a staple for people who enjoy that cup of coffee or tea while congregating at the popular spot, will for the third time see a departure in ownership.

Spilling the Beans, at 2 W. Front St. on the city’s South Side, “will be closing the doors for the last time on the 30th (Thursday),” according to a Facebook announcement posted by the business this week.

Spilling the Beans, the post said, has “really tried to figure out how to battle inflation without raising our prices to a ridiculous amount and it just isn’t feasible.”

Owner Emilee Gray could not be reached for comment Friday.

Spilling the Beans opened in 2004, after Stephanie and Jim Singer retired from the Oil City School District and Electralloy, respectively.

In January 2019, the couple sold the business to Log Cabin Restaurant owners Melissa and Josh Scrivens and David McVay.

The trio initiated changes once they took over, including the addition of a bakery.

However, it was just seven months later, in August, when the new owners decided to close Spilling the Beans. At the time, Missy Scrivens told the newspaper “We tried to make a go of it, but it is just not carrying itself.”

Gray, of Rouseville, along with her aunt and uncle, Jackie and Pat Bucholz, of Cooperstown, reopened Spilling the Beans one month later.

In an interview with the newspaper back then, Gray said the plan was to “go back to the way it was when Jim and Steph (Singer) owned the shop.”

That plan, Gray had said, included offering the wraps the Singers used to make, along with fresh-baked goods, homemade soup and “healthier-type food.”

In that same interview, Gray, who had stepped away from the business during the COVID-19 pandemic, said, “I’d hate to see this place ever close, I don’t remember it not being here. I do enjoy it…I missed it when I was stuck at home for two years.”