Downtown Kelowna coffee shop appears to have mysteriously closed

If you were planning on heading into Black Sheep Coffee Bar for a pick-me-up in the near future, you might have to make other plans.

The downtown Kelowna coffee shop on Bernard Avenue appears to have permanently shut its doors, a decision that has left its patrons scratching their heads.

“Last time I was there, everything was business as usual including signs advertising summer specials,” said one Reddit user who typically frequents the coffee shop twice a week.

“Today, I went to get my regular coffee and (the) doors are locked, patio furniture (is) gone, furniture inside cleared out including the machines.”

The Reddit post, which came on Wednesday, said that Google still listed Black Sheep Coffee Bar as open with regular hours, but that has since changed.

A quick Google search today showed that the coffee shop is listed as “permanently closed.”

Black Sheep’s website and Instagram pages are still active, with no word of a permanent closure, but their Facebook page no longer exists.

Another Reddit user pointed out that Empire Crepe was supposed to have a pop-up at Black Sheep this week, but shared on Tuesday that it was cancelled “due to unforeseen circumstances.”

KelownaNow’s call to Black Sheep went unanswered and a voicemail message has not yet been returned.

If the coffee shop has shut its doors, the unfortunate decision comes just under a year after it first opened on May 6, 2023.

Black Sheep was opened by Allan and Angela Paterson after the couple, who had previously moved from Scotland to Canada with their two daughters, arrived in Kelowna.

Their first stop in Canada was in Calgary, but after five years in Alberta, they decided to give the Okanagan a try and purchased what was formerly the downtown Bean Scene in Kelowna.

Their goal with Black Sheep was to create a coffee shop that had some different and unique elements, but overall was a go-to spot for people to connect.

“Whether it's to meet their friends or family they haven’t seen in a long time, or whether they come to do some work or have business meetings, we want it to be a nice social space, and obviously serve awesome coffee,” Allan told KelownaNow last year.

The apparent closure of Black Sheep Coffee Bar comes less than two weeks after another downtown coffee shop, Bliss Bakery, also shut its doors for good.