After less than six months, Carlisle’s Coffee & Sandwiches, owned by Ken and Caitlin Carlisle, is no longer in business. Caitlin Carlisle does not see the closing as a normal case of a business shutting down.

A robbery took place at Pioneer Grocery, also owned by the Carlisle’s, Monday July 3. According to Caitlin Carlisle, this initiated a “snowball of events” that led to the sandwich & coffee shop closing down.

“In the last several years, there has been a crime problem in this entire area of the county for a lot of different reasons,” Caitlin Carlisle said. “This is a very rural area. We don’t have local police, and we use the state police, but they’re pretty over maxed to capacity. A lot of the other stores [in Rogersville] have been suffering in the same way.”

Carlisle said that the recent robbery happened at the tail end of several incidents, including one in which her mother-in-law and four-year-old son were held up.

“They threatened to shoot [my son] in his head while they were standing there,” said Caitlin Carlisle.

Everybody involved with the robbery has been identified. But according to Caitlin Carlisle, getting the situation resolved has not been easy.

“We struggled to get any resolution,” said Caitlin Carlisle. “We just have a big problem for a lot of different reasons.”

Caitlin Carlisle said that shutting down the sandwich shop had nothing to do with profitability.

“I want people to know that it’s not like ‘hey one of our other businesses was robbed, and we’re closing down,” Caitlin Carlisle said. “You feel under attack after a while; this is a recidivist family that…. they’re not dodging the penal system, but they bounce off of it.”

Ken Carlisle, who along with his wife opened Carlisle’s Insurance Company in 2015, has seen a drastic increase in crime over the past few years.

“Up until a couple of years ago, I could leave my wallet in the car and I wouldn’t worry about it,” Ken Carlisle said. “It’s terrible the way it is. I ordered a metal grill to the front door so [robbers] can’t break in that way anymore. It keeps getting worse and worse.”

The situation has gotten so concerning for Ken Carlisle that he now owns three guns for protection.

A lot of time was devoted to the security issues at Pioneer Grocery. Because of that, as time went on, Caitlin and Ken had to be at their Rogersville shop on a regular basis. Keeping an eye on the safety of that store, in addition to the managing their other businesses and the insurance agency, was a big factor in shutting down the coffee and sandwich shop.

“From a business owner’s standpoint, we don’t do things just slightly,” Caitlin Carlisle said. “We are committed to everything we’re doing, and we saw that having a coffee shop just did not fit into our future plans with how we have to handle things in Rogersville and our other businesses.”

Caitlin Carlisle said that the decision to close the shop was not an easy one.

“We put [closing down] off a bit longer than we probably should have,” said Caitlin Carlisle. “We did not want to do this at all, but just out of respect for what other things we have to do. [We] just could not make it work.”

Even as some time has passed, the decision of shutting down the coffee and sandwich shop does not sit well with Caitlin Carlisle.

“I’m still not comfortable [with closing],” Caitlin Carlisle said. “You hate to end anything successful, and I think as business people, you’re never really happy with the decision. But you only want to do things to the best that you can be.”

Caitlin Carlisle said that Waynesburg University students have also expressed disappointment with the coffee and sandwich shop closing down.

“There’s definitely been some upset students, and I’m with [them] there,” said Carlisle. “It is upsetting. It’s part of the college experience that we were so excited and proud to be a part of.”

The storeowners expressed sorrow at their inability to overcome the situation, and frustration at the insufficiencies in Greene County’s penal system.

Ken Carlisle said that there was another break in attempt just a month prior to the July 3 robbery, in which a gunman came in through the side door before retreating after hearing the alarms. One of Ken’s fears is that the crime situation will escalate to the point of fatality in the future.

“If it comes down to it, god forbid, I hope this never happens…. someone somewhere is going to get shot and get killed. Then maybe we’re going to realize that we better start being proactive instead of reactive.”