One of Boulder’s oldest coffee shops, Sidney’s Café, is closing on New Year’s Eve, continuing a trend of restaurants and other businesses in downtown Boulder shutting their doors.

Sidney’s co-owner Matthew Kenny, who purchased the 21-year-old coffee shop at 1375 Walnut with his wife in January, told Boulder Weekly that the main reason for the closure is a continuing disagreement with their landlord, the W.W. Reynolds Companies.

According to Kenny, a fire department inspection conducted in October revealed several fire code violations, including an electrical junction box that is inaccessible because it is located behind a cabinet. Kenny says Reynolds has repeatedly refused to pay to relocate the box, an improvement that would cost about $9,000. Instead, he says, Reynolds wants the owners to dismantle the antique cabinet that is blocking the box, something that Kenny is not willing to do.

The impasse has prevented a new lease from being signed before the current one expires on Dec. 31.

“They said that without us being here, it wouldn’t be an issue,” Kenny says.

Nate Litsey, the Reynolds leasing agent for the café, counters that according to the existing lease, fire-code improvements are the tenant’s responsibility. Still, he says Reynolds is willing to work with the café’s owners to help cover the cost, and that the lease could still end up being renewed in the next couple of days. He says the junction box issue is not the driving factor in the situation; it is a question of whether the café’s owners have the financial wherewithal to continue operating the business.

“They don’t know if they want to stay open or not,” Litsey says. “We’ll do what we can, but ultimately, it’s their decision.”

“No business wants to go out of business,” Kenny replies, adding that Reynolds should be responsible for keeping the property up to code.

He says many tenants have left the eight-story building at 1375 Walnut, moving to properties with lower rent and reducing traffic in the café significantly. According to Kenny, when Litsey asked what he could do to help the coffee shop stay in business, Kenny told him he could fill the building with tenants.

Litsey denied that there had been any exodus from the building. He said a few tenants have left, but not for economic reasons.

Meanwhile, this week Kenny gave his employees two days’ notice instead of two weeks’ worth. He lamented that the café is following in the footsteps of several other downtown establishments that are closing or have closed their doors, including Sunflower Organic Dining, the Scotch Corner Pub and the b.side Lounge. Bart’s CD Cellar is closing in January.

One regular Sidney’s customer compared the loyalty of the café’s patrons to that seen on the television show Cheers.

Kenny agrees, adding, “There seems to be so little motivation to keep these small businesses downtown, these institutions.”