Lakeland food hall The Joinery announced plans to reopen, with limited capacity, on Monday, May 4, but one stall won’t be part of the action.
King State—which, like other Joinery stalls, was only open for less than 50 days before the coronavirus put the kibosh on life—announced late Thursday night that it was planning to close its Lakeland location.
“Not everything is a good fit & it’s a bummer that’s the case with our satellite spot in Lakeland,” King State wrote on social media. “After chatting with our friends Jon & Sarah at The Joinery, we both decided it was time to part ways. No hard feelings & we wish nothing but the best for all homies!”
A lengthy "Press F to Pay Respects" thread was started in the Instagram post’s comment section shortly after, but King State co-founder and owner Tim McTague offered a few more details in a text with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
“We mutually agreed to close the lease,” McTague wrote, adding that he’ll remove some of the King State specific accents from the Joinery buildout. “We’re cutting our losses, staying focused and going 100% on KS TPA”
The local coffee roaster and beer brewer’s Tampa Heights location—at 520 E. Floribraska Ave.—will continue to serve takeout and delivery.
McTague will also know more about potentially opening the Tampa Heights café at 25% capacity after a Friday afternoon staff meeting.
“We’ll most likely wait a week or two,” McTague told CL. “We want to open safely and continue to serve our guests in a capacity that is at a level that we want to see.”
The Joinery did not respond to CL’s inquiry for a comment.
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This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2020.