The downtown Manhattan Beach Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has had its last day of operations and will be permanently closed as of Saturday, as per a sign in front of the store and confirmed by an employee.

The sign asks customers to thank employees who have kept the store open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jollibee Food Corp., a restaurant company in the Philippines, purchased the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf chain last year. The chain has closed a number of locations around Southern California in the last few months.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf posted: "We’ve made the difficult decision to close a number of our company-owned store locations in California and Arizona in order to provide the best possible experience for our guests. We hope that you can visit one of our other locations, or find your favorite coffees and teas online at store.coffeebean.com. We appreciate your feedback and continued support."

The other Manhattan Beach Coffee Bean locations - at Manhattan Village Mall (2616 N. Sepulveda) and at Manhattan Marketplace (1590 Rosecrans Ave.) will remain open, according to employees reached on Friday.

Jill Lamkin, executive director of the Downtown Manhattan Beach Business and Professionals Association, said that corporate renters usually do not give her organization notice ahead of time before they close. She said she did not yet know what would replace the downtown Coffee Bean in that Manhattan Beach Blvd. location.