Blank Street Coffee is coming to Penn, bringing students another spot to grab their morning caffeine and giving the campus coffee scene a new chain to contend with.

The coffee retailer, which raised over $100 million from investors this August, will open near the Penn Bookstore at 3603 Walnut St. Originally scheduled for late summer, the store’s official opening was delayed amid ongoing construction.

Dibba Iran-Parasti, Blank Street’s marketing director, wrote in a statement that the University City location will open “before the end of the year.” The storefront will be one of the company’s largest brick-and-mortars in the country.

The Blank Street of today is a far cry from the tiny, battery-powered coffee cart that opened in Brooklyn six years ago. The company quickly attracted venture capital investors, who saw an opportunity to scale its streamlined coffee shop model.

That rapid expansion has also drawn criticism from social media users and neighborhood coffee enthusiasts who see the chain as a Wall Street-backed threat to local businesses.

At Penn, Blank Street’s imminent arrival is brewing a mix of reactions, including questions about the future of smaller coffee companies.

Hamza Shaikh, co-owner of Haraz Coffee House, said in an interview that Blank Street has “a lot more resources and a lot more manpower” than other chains. 

Blank Street is arriving on campus after a string of cafe closures. United By Blue closed abruptly in 2023, and Saxbys closed last May after the School of Dental Medicine ended the coffee shop’s lease. Williams Cafe’s location in Houston Hall also closed just two months after opening last year due to financial strain.

“There’s always a buzz that comes with anything new that opens,” Shaikh said on Blank Street coming to University City. “But I think it needs to stand the test of time.”

He said he was “personally not that impressed” by Blank Street’s products, but predicted that it will be “very hard to compete” with the brand’s high-budget marketing and research. 

Haraz is located at 3421 Chestnut St., just two blocks from the new Blank Street. The Yemeni coffee concept has two additional locations in Philadelphia and several others across the United States.

For College first year Madeline Espinoza, Blank Street “tastes like fake matcha.” Still, she said in an interview that the new location could have “a positive impact to the Penn community,” adding that “Penn students really love trendy things.” 

College junior Alison Roh, a self-proclaimed “big fan” of Blank Street, said she expects the coffee shop will be a “hot commodity” among students.

Blank Street opened a location in Rittenhouse Square last month. According to Roh, the spot’s popularity has yet to wear off and “it’s almost impossible to get drinks there.

Roh acknowledged the “constant argument about small business coffee shops versus chains.” For her, the appeal of places like Blank Street comes down to consistency. Customers “know what they’re going to get” at Blank Street, while small businesses can be more expensive and may not cater to everyone’s tastes.

Port Coffee Co, a franchise with over five active locations and several others in development, also opened its doors at Penn this summer.

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