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After brewing coffee in Wheaton for one year and two months, launching three community fundraisers to stay open and praying for multiple miracles that never came, DeJaBel Café is closing.

The Wheaton coffee shop on University Boulevard just wasn't popular enough to overcome first year struggles in a dismal economy, said owner Eddie Velasquez, who announced the closing today. The shop will be shuttered sometime this weekend.

"We had a wonderful thing going, but the times are too much for us and we couldn't keep affording the location any longer," Velasquez wrote in an e-mail to customers, many of whom dropped hundreds of dollars in donations over the year to keep the café open.

Velasquez is just one of dozens of small Wheaton shop owners who have locked their doors for good in the past 15 months or so. He's also the second local coffee shop in recent months to turn off the espresso machine. Mayorga Coffee Factory in south Silver Spring announced in late 2009 it too couldn't survive the economic downturn. Mayorga has since announced the opening of a new location in Takoma Park.

Like many others before him, Velasquez said high rent and low foot traffic made for a volatile combination.

"Here, I gotta create the market," Velasquez said one recent evening just weeks before deciding to pull the plug. He was comparing the amount of passersby a D.C. cafe sees compared to one in a suburb such as Wheaton. "There's no market for a coffee shop [in Wheaton]."

But to try and make a market, Velasquez hosted a number of created fundraisers. Many of them were aimed just at paying the rent he owed last month.

In July, he made the deadline only after offering DeJaBel memberships — $100 for a free daily cup of coffee; $300 for a free daily specialty drink; and a $500 option no one actually purchased.

That fall, he got his beer and wine license and stayed open later to offer happy hour.

Last month, he allowed volunteer marketing manager Monica Buitrago to run karaoke nights, wine tasting, movie nights, knitting clubs and any other get-together-and-buy-coffee plan she could think of.

But it was never enough. As the monthly bills piled up, he fell deeper into debt, until finally Velasquez owed $30,000 in back rent and late fees.

The extracurricular events raised about $4,000 in revenue, and a box sitting by the cash register blatantly requesting money raised about $700. The $700 will go toward Haiti victims, Velasquez said.

"It wasn't easy to make the final decision, but we had to," Velasquez said of the closure.

Because Velasquez made no secret of his financial difficulties, many DeJaBel customers were more resigned than surprised at the news.

"I'm sad places like these close because they're what keeps the community alive," said Wheaton resident Rachel Bender.

But Velasquez said he has no plans of giving up on finding a profitable way to serve coffee alongside community. He said he and his wife, Erika, may open a DeJaBel in downtown Gaithersburg.

" ... [N]ever forget on the power of following your dreams, because I did, and I don't regret it," Velasquez told his customers.

"Hope to see you all in the near future."