By Kyle Coppola
Sipping Grounds Coffee Shop in Downtown Leesburg Shuts Down
Sipping Grounds, a quaint little coffee shop located on Main Street in Leesburg, right next to Brick & Barrell, has closed down for good. Residents and locals have been showing up to the restaurant, but the lights, furniture, and days of coffee are long gone.
We reached out to the owner Robbin Cruikshank who ran Sipping Grounds with Jim Faircloth.
“We unfortunately couldn’t give Sipping Grounds the attention it needed and had to make the tough decision to close,” Robbin says. “I believe the owner of the building has another shop coming in ASAP. Our Ocala location is still open though. I will definitely miss the regulars.”
(This is what Sipping Grounds used to look like. The modern yet vintage interior of Sipping Grounds made it a unique and enjoyable location to enjoy a morning brew.)
(This is what Sipping Grounds looks like currently. It’s in very good shape and looks almost ready to serve a cup of coffee.)
The once-vibrant spot was popular among local college students and workers in Leesburg. The idea for Sipping Grounds was born when Robbin and her son, Michael, opened the Ocala coffee shop that they still operate. The expansion into Leesburg was only natural as the Ocala location is very popular. Sipping Grounds offered breakfast items, coffee, and sandwiches. It was a relaxing place to enjoy a morning breakfast or a light lunch.
(The front of the building was a very tranquil place to sip on coffee. It offered nice views of the Tropic Theatre and let plenty of natural light into the building.)
As unfortunate as it is that this location is closed, we look forward to the next business opening in this location. Sipping Grounds is the latest coffee shop to close in Downtown Leesburg after the GOD Cafe closed last year as well.
We will give further updates when we know what will be replacing Sipping Grounds.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
