Little Woodfords, the small but well-known coffee shop on Congress Street in Portland will be closing its doors at the end of January.
According to the Portland Press Herald, Andrew Zarro, City Councilor and co-owner of the shop said on Instagram that its “time to say farewell” to their business. The place has drawn national attention from magazines such as Vouge and Bloomberg and has been praised for its LGBTQ+ inclusiveness.
But not all the attention on the shop has been positive. Little Woodfords came under local fire because of Zarro’s decision to implement a municipal mask mandate last January during the record-breaking Omicron surge, which led to personal threats and fake reviews of the shop, requiring the Portland Police to step in.
But the criticism didn’t end there, with more outrage levied at the shop for pro-abortion stickers that said things such as “Defund God” and “Abort Republicans. This managed to draw criticism from notable right-wing figures such as Maine’s Jason Savage and Daily Wire commentator Ben Shapiro.
Zarro has defended the designs by saying “These sold-out sticker packs were a direct response to the national attacks on Roe V. Wade by Republicans and all proceeds were given to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. They were satirical commentary made by an artist – we did not make them. I continue to stand by a person’s right to abortion”. Zarro also brought up that no one had cared about the stickers until the council approved the temporary mask mandate.
The Little Woodfords Instagram cited “the changing hospitality industry” and how it’s different from when they started out 5 years ago as a reason for why they’re closing. They also gave a shoutout to Portland’s LGBTQ+ community, saying “Queer spaces are so vital to the resiliency and well-being of our community, and it has been a true honor to hold space together… Celebrating you and honoring your beauty has been an absolute blessing.”
To read the original article, click here.
To read Little Woodfords Instagram post, click here.
