DeKalb | The House Café, 263 E. Lincoln Hwy., officially shut their doors on Aug. 13.

The local coffee shop has been closed since Aug. 11 when the cafe announced an indefinite closing to patrons until two days later when Alexandra Fausett, The House Cafe co-owner, announced on the cafe’s Facebook page that the cafe would not be reopening due to financial difficulties despite Alexandra’s attempts to keep the cafe open.

“I apologize for not letting everyone know sooner,” according to an announcement written by Alexandra. “We were working ’til the very end to see if there was a way to make things work, but we just weren’t able to make it happen.”

Brian Fausett, The House Café co-owner, declined to comment on the café’s closing.

The café canceled the bands Dowsing, La Historia, Lettering and Sad Jokes, who were to play Aug. 11 and Alimoe, who was to play Aug. 12 without giving advance notice to the bands.

The coffee shop and cafe have served the DeKalb community for music, entertainment and comedy as well for 16 years. It was known for hosting local live bands and open mic nights.

Alexandra said in the announcement that any shows that were booked at the cafe are being moved or cancelled. Pre-purchased presale tickets will be refunded through Ticketfly, according to The House Café Facebook page.

The Fausett’s signed a lease for the cafe on March 18, 2014, after hearing about an ongoing financial issue Jan Pascolini, former owner of The House Cafe, had which caused her to sell the cafe. The Fausett’s signed the lease with NIU Associate Professor Fareed Haque.

“Back in October, we put in an offer for the House Cafe only to find that Jan and Fareed were already in negotiations…,” Brian said in a March 25, 2014 Northern Star article. “I ended up talking with [House Cafe caretaker] Matthew [Clark], and he talked about how their investors had pretty much fallen through. And so we just looked into it, and here we are.”

Haque bought the cafe after Sven Hansen could no longer keep the cafe running due to financial difficulties in 2005, according to a Aug. 23, 2010 Northern Star article.

Hansen created The House Cafe in 2000 and focused on the cafe’s food. John Ugolini, booker, began to book bands to play at the cafe in 2003.

Haque, a Jazz guitarist, focused on recreating the cafe as a music venue. Haque used his connections to begin booking talented jazz acts, and Ugolini, who knew of the venue through his own experience in playing in a local band, began booking bands like the Chicago punk band the Lawrence Arms there.

Many of these indie and punk bands later made it a point to play The House Cafe on their way though the Midwest, because as Ugolini puts it, bands are “treated like gold at The House.” Whether it is a smaller or a larger act, Ugolini and the cafe’s staff do their best in promoting, welcoming and showcasing every act that comes through.

And this treatment paid off; the cafe has a “sterling reputation” among touring bands, Ugolini said. This is a large part of the reason the venue has been able to book acts such as MGMT, Of Montreal, Crystal Castles, Metro Station and Boys Like Girls in the past.

While Ugolini mentioned DeKalb is considered a second or third level market, meaning generally smaller crowds and less profit, the cafe is often packed, because of, as Ugolini puts it, the “magnetic quality” of the venue. There is no real backstage area, so bands, managers, and fans all tend to mix before and after the show and between sets.

Alexandra said that she is so grateful to have been a part of The House Café for the last couple of years.

“This place has meant so much to me, for so many different reasons,” according to an announcement written by Alexandra.

Go to bit.ly/2bfjwHJ to see Alexandra’s closing statement.