Since Thomas Hammer closed its doors to its Pullman location late last year, the company has been searching for new roots on the Palouse. The previous location on Main Street closed after over 15 years in the same space.

Thomas Hammer began on the Gonzaga University campus in Spokane, eventually growing and expanding to the Greater Spokane Area. In the early 2010s, the coffee chain opened its doors to the Pullman community, later expanding to the Moscow community with a location on the University of Idaho campus.

The Pullman location closed last October after outgrowing its location. Since closing, the company has been looking for a new space to serve coffee.

“We’ve been actively looking at spaces in Pullman the last couple months,” Founder and CEO Thomas Hammer said. “Hopefully, we will find one here soon and be able to start a new chapter in Pullman.”

The location on the University of Idaho campus closed last year as well. In May, Thomas Hammer and the University of Idaho reached a mutual agreement to terminate a five-year lease just two years in.

The decision to close the Idaho location was made after concluding the location was not profitable, Hammer said.

“It got to the point where it was simply not a profitable location, so we asked them if we could depart,” he said. “They had felt it was fine, so we left the space.”

Despite the only two locations in the Palouse closing in close succession just last year, the company is eager to reopen its doors to the Pullman and Moscow communities.

Thomas Hammer’s return to the Palouse would come amid an exodus of businesses in Downtown Pullman. Despite this, the company sees a potential light beyond the horizon.

“I think that Downtown Pullman is positioned very well to have improvement and expansion,” Hammer said. “Unfortunately, what it needs is multiple businesses that will give the students and the faculty the desire to come off the campus and come downtown.”

However optimistic, Hammer said he sees a necessary change.

“There needs to be an emphasis on some gentrification of Downtown Pullman,” he said. “If they’re going to want to make it work, one business isn’t going to make it work; it needs to be a group effort.”

Though Moscow’s business market may seem like the more obvious place to put down roots, Hammer said Pullman is the place to be.

“Right now, there is unfortunately just not a lot of downtown businesses or downtown retailers that provide that need, compared to, let’s say, Moscow,” he said. “When you go to Moscow, you’re competing with a lot of other companies, whereas in Pullman, you can be kind of the star when you open up because the city is hungry to have something downtown that they really like.”

At this time, there are no plans to bring Thomas Hammer back to Moscow. When Thomas Hammer comes back to the Palouse, Pullman will be home, Hammer said.

“The store that we are trying to bring to Pullman is not a store that requires multiple locations…one store should be adequate for both of our markets,” he said. “I think we can pull people from 15 miles away to come to the store and hang out.”

In addition to bringing a physical location back to the Palouse, Thomas Hammer has partnered with the Cougar Collective’s Ol’ Crimson store.

“We started this late last summer, roasting and producing for the Ol’ Crimson label for WSU,” Hammer said. “When you buy a bag, you are helping the Cougar Collective, the athletic arm of WSU, and that is benefiting the school.”