Downtown Billings CityBrew Suddenly Closes At DoubleTree

Last week, I was chatting with our coworkers about how nice it would be to grab a coffee from the CityBrew on the 1st floor of the DoubleTree Hotel (our studios are located at the tippy top, 23rd floor). However, when I mentioned that, they informed me I was out of luck. The CityBrew inside the hotel up and left. I wonder why...

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Why The Sudden Departure?

Business is business, and things change. In fact, I have another article coming soon related to just that... but it IS abnormal for a business to just... disappear... without any notice to the public. I was JUST in CityBrew right before the holidays arrived, and saw no notice of such a thing happening.

Though, we can speculate a bit. With the cost of everything these days, it is highly likely such a prime location (such as the corner of N 27th Street & 1st Ave North) isn't cheap. It's VERY likely such a location is thousands of dollars a month in rent... which seems hard to cover with selling coffee and pastries.

Another thought is... why have two CityBrew locations within a few blocks? Another CityBrew sprung up a few years ago more north on 27th Street.

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And, even competition in general. CityBrew is BIG coffee now. It isn't the locally-owned mom-and-pop coffee shop it once was. CityBrew is just... a small Starbucks now. So, maybe with the large amount of competition coming in, they just decided to keep to the one store downtown. Who knows...

What's Coming Next?

Who knows, again! We've heard rumors about the hotel wanting to create their own Bistro, similar to what the Northern has with Bernies. I guess time will tell.