Downtown Credo, the fair-trade coffeeshop built on a name-your-price business model, is closing its original location in College Park.

In a press release Monday, founder Ben Hoyer stated, “The quick and open-ended effects of COVID-19 coupled with an increasing rent burden made it extremely challenging to continue operating in the College Park space.”

The company’s other locations at Health Village and the nearby North Quarter remain open.

Hoyer’s statement continued: “We are thankful that the shop fulfilled our Credo of providing meaning, impact, and community to thousands of people, and we’ll be forever grateful to everyone that has supported. I am excited to welcome everyone to our two other shops, as we continue to serve direct-trade coffee for decades to come.”

Downtown Credo opened in a building on Smith Street just west of Edgewater Drive in the spring of 2010. It offered a gathering place less manic than chain coffee shops, and the “pay what you want” policy fostered conversations about the source of coffee and the people who provide it.