Moji Coffee + More is planning to close its doors for good. The nonprofit coffee shop closed its satellite location inside the Forsyth County Central Library on June 29, and plans to close its store at 690 N. Trade St.
by the end of August. Moji opened in June 2019 at 690 N. Trade St.
as a nonprofit business that offers employment to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It’s “coffee that gives everyone a voice,” as the sign on the window says. Board member Tyke Arbaugh said that the nonprofit has encountered financial challenges that that led to the decision to close.
“There has been a drop in donations, and a shift away from corporate givers and how their priorities are stacking up,” Arbaugh said. “There also has been a challenge in securing new grants.” Arbaugh said that revenue from coffee sales was never enough to cover expenses.
Program director Dan Wellman said that sales had decreased since the December 2022 opening of Bitty & Beau’s, a coffee chain that employs people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, on Fourth Street downtown, about a half-mile away from Moji’s Trade Street location. People are also reading..
. A third coffee shop with a similar mission, Cam’s, opened this year inside the Kaleideum children’s museum downtown. Arbaugh said that Moji’s board now is trying “to find a like-minded organization to partner with, that could perhaps integrate Moji employees and resources.
” But he and Wellman said .
