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One of The Exchange’s original tenants will be leaving Old Town Plaza this summer.
CopperMuse Distillery, 244 N. College Ave., will close its Old Town tasting room on Sept. 2, co-owner Jason Hevelone confirmed Thursday.
Founded in Fort Collins, the distillery had been at its location since 2014, when it opened alongside then-neighbors Pateros Creek Brewing and Compass Cider, according to previous reporting by the Coloradoan. It was the only business in the area integrated into The Exchange, an open-air plaza with a network of restaurants, wineries, taprooms and shops made from shipping containers that opened in 2018.
CopperMuse Distillery’s decision to close came after a decline in business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Hevelone, who founded and operates the distillery with his wife Heather Trantham.
“It seemed like 2021 was going to be a nice recovery year,” Hevelone told the Coloradoan. “We thought things would get better from there, but our revenues went down year after year.”
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While footfall declined and consumer behavior changed, the distillery also grappled with changes brought about by the addition of wine to grocery store shelves last March. The change – made possible when Colorado voters narrowly passed Proposition 125 in late 2022 – led to declines in wine sales at small, independent liquor retailers, who then tightened their wallets and bought fewer craft spirits, Hevelone said.
Since 2023, wholesale sales at CopperMuse Distillery in Colorado have fallen 25%, he added.
While revenues have declined, CopperMuse’s costs for labor, equipment and other items have also risen. Since 2018, the distillery’s rent has increased 150%, Hevelone said.
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“We recognized the signs of the times earlier this year and decided to make one last concerted effort to turn things around,” Hevelone said, referring to the distillery’s menu redesign this spring and the creation of an events space that hosted private parties, live music and trivia nights in the hope that the events would bring in more customers.
“While they helped, they were not enough to overcome these economic factors,” Hevelone said.
The last day at CopperMuse Distillery’s downtown tasting room will be Sept. 1. The distillery plans to keep its East Fort Collins production facility open so it can ramp up production and transition to a wholesale-only model. The distillery’s craft spirits are currently available in Colorado, Kansas and Michigan, and will soon expand to Arizona, Hevelone said.
