The Moores Mill location of Spiller Park Coffee will close after service on July 3, owner Dale Donchey told Rough Draft Atlanta. Donchey, who opened the Moores Mill Center location in 2022, cited financial reasons for the closure.
“This shop was our third location, which helped us come out of our Covid cocoon with a full kitchen to give us the tools to create and expand our food offerings,” Donchey said. “It’s the last of our Covid choices that just never held up as we became more removed from that time period.”
While the Moores Mill location has many regulars from surrounding neighborhoods and nearby cities like Smyrna, Donchey has yet to find another space to reopen Spiller Park on the west side of Atlanta.
Related story:
• Spiller Park Coffee opening in South Downtown Atlanta
• Website Atlanta Coffee Shops champions the local caffeine scene
Closing time
Donchey called the expansion of Spiller Park to Moores Mill “monumental” for the hometown coffee brand he helped found at Ponce City Market in 2015. This location provided the launching pad for Donchey to add a trio of store managers, a lead baker, and a culinary director to the brand, along with training new baristas for shops in Toco Hills, South Downtown, Midtown, and the original Ponce City Market location.
With the closure of Moores Mill, however, Donchey plans to expand Spiller Park’s in-house bakery operation, including the popular bagels and possibly adding sandwiches to other locations. Currently, only the South Downtown location offers sandwiches at lunch.
“Doing more at Toco would be a dream. Ponce is a little harder [to add new food items to the menu] but we’re about to have the bandwidth and resources to look into it,” said Donchey.
Atlanta coffee brand expansion
A veteran of the Atlanta coffee scene, Donchey’s background includes stints at Steady Hand Pour House, Method Coffee Bar, and Octane. As a diehard baseball fan, Donchey named Spiller Park Coffee after Rell J. Spiller, the owner of the defunct minor league baseball team the Atlanta Crackers. The team used to play across the street from the old Sears, Roebuck & Co. building on Ponce, now home to Ponce City Market and the original location of Spiller Park Coffee.
New locations of Spiller Park Coffee at the Toco Hill Shopping Center, Moores Mill, and South Downtown followed.
The Mitchell Street shop became one of the first businesses to open at the South Downtown development in 2024, becoming part of the $140 million revitalization of one of Atlanta’s oldest commercial districts.
Since its opening two years ago, Donchey said the South Downtown location has seen a 100% increase in sales on game days at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and a steady flow of foot traffic on non-game days. He hopes that with more businesses and restaurants now open in South Downtown and neighboring Centennial Yards, foot traffic will continue to ramp up.
Last fall, Donchey opened a location of Spiller Park Coffee at the 999 Peachtree building on Peachtree Street in Midtown. This location stays consistently busy with residents, university students, Midtown’s workforce, and tourists frequenting the shop by foot, bicycle, or scooter.
“I have a lot of personal history in that building, starting out with [chef] Hugh Acheson and Empire State South,” Donchey said at the time of the opening. “And I’ve always wanted a Spiller Park sign on Peachtree. Now I’m getting one, and to me putting your mark on Peachtree Street like that is one of the most Atlanta things you can do.”
