The famous Coffee Shop restaurant on Union Square is now officially a thing of the past. The last sign of its existence (quite literally, in fact) has been replaced by a not-as-charming Chase Bank logo.
Coffee Shop—which was a popular late-night diner for nearly 30 years—closed in October 2018 due to high rent costs and an increase in minimum wages. The neon sign above the restaurant outside, however, was there even before the arrival of Coffee Shop in 1990! Coffee Shop kept it in honor of the prior coffee shop that’d called that space home from the 1970s through 1980s; and over time it became an unofficial landmark of NYC.
Now, a Chase Bank outpost has taken over the space, sharing it with Joe Coffee, and they’ve gotten rid of the historic signage altogether!
While no one is sure what’s become of the famous sign (if the Coffee Shop owners kept it, if Chase Bank is holding onto it, or if it’s just disappeared for good), one thing is certain—the final glimmers of old New York are gone, and they, along with the sign, will be greatly missed by many.
