Java Joe’s, a Downtown Binghamton coffee shop, saw an outpouring of support from its customers after the store was seized by the government last week.
The establishment, located at 81 State St., was closed down Feb. 22 for failure to pay sales taxes, but reopened this past Tuesday.
According to its owner, Tina Kuenzli, Java Joe’s was able to reopen after righting an error in their tax papers and paying a fine. The coffee shop was closed for a total of four business days, Kuenzli said.
Mitchell Meyers, a senior majoring in philosophy who has worked at Java Joe’s for six months, said he was alarmed to hear of the closing.
“I was most of all concerned for the financial well-being of the people I work with, who are awesome, and for the well-being of my boss, who despite this apparent slipup, is one of the most honest and hardworking people I’ve ever had the opportunity to work for,” Meyers said.
Edward Walsh, director of public information for the New York State Taxation and Finance, said Java Joe’s was closed by his department for an unpaid sales tax warrant of $12,123.19.
He said that Java Joe’s had failed to pay sales tax.
“It is important to remember that consumers are paying sales tax with the expectation that it will be remitted back to taxpayers in the form of funding for state functions and services,” Walsh said.
Establishments are only seized after numerous other attempts have been made to secure payment, according to Walsh.
“Businesses can also typically avoid being closed by entering into a payment plan,” he explained. “We prefer voluntary compliance, but it is sometimes necessary to close a business since it would be unfair to compliant businesses if we did not enforce the tax laws.”
Kuenzli said she was offered this opportunity, but would not comment further on the issue. She felt the government could have pursued other options before taking action to close the business down.
“New York State makes it very difficult for small businesses to stay in business,” she said.
She said many community members who sympathized, or could relate, reached out to her after the store’s closing.
“There was a lot of reaction from the community, from the people that know me and know my employees, who know I haven’t had a vacation in years … I had to turn my phone off,” she said. “At first I was in tears and just crushed when they plastered it on the front page of the paper but it actually brought a lot of people out, a lot of people who experienced the same difficulty.”
Kuenzli said that during the hard times her business, and the rest of the economy, is facing, she is grateful for her patrons, especially students.
“I personally thank God for the students because if we didn’t have them, this area would just crumble and die,” she said. “I hope to stay open … the area gripes about how there’s no place for the kids to go, and then the only thing they do is open more bars so that’s the only thing for [kids] to do.”
Meyers said that the Java Joe’s staff is excited to get back to work.
“Since reopening, the support from our customers has been tremendous, so to all our regulars, you know who you are, we missed you and we can’t wait to awkwardly make small talk and joke around with you guys again,” he said.