Saxbys at 40th and Locust streets will close by May as Penn Dental Medicine ends the coffee shop’s lease to convert the space into a sedation center with operatories and recovery areas.
Penn Dental is set to transform the space within the Robert Schattner Center, leased to Saxbys since 2015, as part of an expansion driven by the 2021 opening of the Care Center for Persons with Disabilities and the school’s longstanding plans to enhance sedation services, according to a Penn Dental spokesperson. This expansion will be supported by capital funding and fundraising efforts scheduled for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years.
“Leadership at the dental school notified the Saxby’s management that the current lease would not be renewed beginning in 2025,” the Penn Dental spokesperson wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian, adding that the lease will expire on May 31. “The conversion of the coffee shop space is vital to the health and well-being of our patients.”
“The disabilities center treats some 8,000 patients a year with cognitive, developmental, and physical disabilities including autism, Alzheimer’s, cerebral palsy and other conditions,” the spokesperson added. “A small number of these patients can only receive dental care under general anesthesia or sedation.”
Nick Bayer, the founder and CEO of Saxbys, wrote to the the DP that Penn Dental has undergone “significant growth,” which led to their decision to “recapture the space” to further develop the school.
A staff member at the Saxbys location at 40th and Locust streets — who requested anonymity due to concerns about retaliation — told the DP that there “hasn’t been a lot of transparency” from Saxbys management in terms of the store’s closure.
“Team members found out gradually through the grapevine and just through working at Saxbys,” they said. “Talking to my coworkers is how I found out that we’re closing in May. When I was hired and I was doing my interview process, it was never mentioned by the manager that we would be closing in a year or so.”
The employee emphasized that workers were only informed about the closure of Saxbys “from the HQ side” through an email from management on Dec. 20 about severance payments that would be provided following the location’s closure. According to the employee, these severance benefits were secured through unionization efforts that began in December 2024.
“The union efforts brought [the closure] to light and really forced [Saxbys] to be more transparent,” the employee said.
“We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve the University of Pennsylvania community for the past 16 years and would like to thank all of the students, faculty, staff, and neighbors that have supported Saxbys,” Bayer wrote. “Stay tuned for announcements later this year when we plan to further expand our student-run cafe network within University City.”
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