The Kent Starbucks café closed its doors Monday after almost 20 years in business.

“Actually the worst thing to ever happen,” Gab Pedroza wrote in a Tweet. “This Starbucks literally got me through college.”

The news of the closure led to Kent State students and alumni alike voicing their sadness on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

A post made by the Kent café on Instagram gained 114 comments, while a post made by Barstool Kent State received 193 comments.

While many of the comments expressed sadness over the closure, others wondered what would happen to the historic Capt’n Brady’s building that housed Starbucks.

“Please, please Kent, do not knock this down and replace it with more ugly orange bricks,” said Maddie Bensinger on Twitter.

Joseph Graham with the Office of the University Architect said while he can’t speak for the administration, he is unaware of any concrete future plans for the site.  

“I do think there’s an interest in maintaining the structure of the old Brady’s café,” Graham said. “It has some historic sort of nostalgia for the community and for the university.”  

Graham said there is the potential to lease the building to another business or have a university function move inside it. 

KentWired contacted the university administration for comment, but Emily Vincent, director of university media relations, said Starbucks did not notify the university about any changes of occupancy on the property and therefore it would be “premature to comment at this time.”

Rachel Gross is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].