World Cup Coffee in the Ecotrust Building will close its doors on Saturday. The company said that the Pearl location wasn't performing as well as its other stores. The lagging performance, along with other factors, led to the company's decision to close the store. World Cup's other locations will remain open, including its nearby store and roasting plant at NW 18th and Glisan.
The Ecotrust Building is a prime location and you wouldn't expect it to remain empty for long—it's not, it's already leased! Laughing Planet has leased the space and will open a new café later this year.
If you're not familiar with Laughing Planet, here's an excerpt from their website:
"The Laughing Planet Café is a quick-service restaurant that serves nutritious fare in the form of tasty burritos (aka "PNDs" or "Portable Nutrition Devices"), bowls, soups, salads, smoothies, juices and home-made cookies. We are dedicated to making wholesome food accessible to regular folks with time constraints, keeping it affordable, fun and socially responsible."
Laughing Planet currently has 5 locations in Portland:
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3320 SE Belmont St., 503-235-6472
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922 NW 21st Ave., 503-445-1319
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3765 N Mississippi St., 503-467-4146
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4110 SE Woodstock Blvd., 503-788-2921
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4405 SW Vermont Street, 503-244-4254
The food is tasty and healthy. Best of all, it's reasonably priced! Bowls range from $4.75 to $7.25 and burritos from $4.25 to $6.25. The Soylent Green bowl sounds great, and brings back memories of Charlton Heston yelling "Soylent Green, it's the people, it's the people!"
We're sorry to see World Cup leave, because they offered a great meeting space and good coffee. But, we're really excited to have another reasonably-priced dining alternative in the neighborhood.
We'll keep you posted.
Laughing planet is great food. The convenience and the price makes it even better. Sorry to see WorldCup leave the ecotrust but for some reason I've never been a fan of their coffee or their stores.