The Freaky Bean coffee company will serve its last cup of coffee Thursday after owners close the final two stores in Scarborough and South Portland.

Small paper signs greeted customers at the Broadway location in South Portland and the Route 1 location in Scarborough, Wednesday, informing them that the stores were closing for good on Thursday.

The sign cited failed expansion planning and a downturn in the economy as reasons for closing the final two stores. “As a result of these unforeseen events, the Freaky Bean can no longer honor its obligations to its creditors, and we must close to resolve these issues. Thank you. We will miss all of you. The Freaky Bean.”

The coffee company, which started with a shop on Route 1 in Scarborough in June 2006, expanded quickly in the past year and a half, opening its headquarters on Main Street in Westbrook, a store and drive-through in South Portland and a second Scarborough location.

The second Scarborough location at a retail development adjacent to a new Cabela’s outdoor sporting store, and the Westbrook store, closed late last month, though the company was still roasting coffee beans in Westbrook.

At the beginning of this year, the flagship store on Route 1 in Scarborough moved down the road to Bessey Square.

On Feb. 25, three of the company’s creditors – Sunrise Guide LLC, Rosemont Market Inc., and Harry J. Acer Co. Inc – filed a petition that would push Freaky Bean into bankruptcy, according to documents with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Maine in Portland.

Freaky Bean answered the petition on March 17 and the coffee company consented to the involuntary bankruptcy petition. A relief from bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for March 25, according to the documents.

Randy Creswell, an attorney with Perkins & Thompson in Portland, is representing the creditors and said that the petition documents show Freaky Bean allegedly owes its creditors a little more than $80,000.

Additional creditors owed money include Central Maine Power Company, Creswell said.

Jon Stratton, president of Freaky Bean, e-mailed a statement late Wednesday afternoon saying that, “in response to an involuntary petition for bankruptcy filed against the Freaky Bean, the Freaky Bean consented to the bankruptcy and is closing its doors.”

He said owners and operators were “deeply saddened by this course of events, particularly in light of their tireless efforts over the last several months to obtain the necessary capital to avoid bankruptcy and honor the company’s obligations to its many vendors, who showed patience and understanding.”

The court petition, he said, “triggered a chain of events that left the Freaky Bean unable to continue the struggle.”

Customers having coffee in the shops in both South Portland and Scarborough on Wednesday said they were disappointed the stores were closing.

“I’m very sad about it,” said Cape Elizabeth resident Mary Chris Bulger, while drinking coffee with her friend at the South Portland location. “It’s a very cool place and a nice environment.”

“I had some concern about them expanding too fast in an economy going south,” said Cape Elizabeth resident Wandy Browne while drinking coffee with a friend at the South Portland location. “It’s really bad right now, but I give them a lot of credit for taking a risk.”

Some customers in Scarborough said they were saddened by the closings because they will lose a spot to conduct business.

“This is kind of a meeting spot for me,” said Portland resident Laura Baker, while meeting with friends at the Scarborough location on Wednesday. “There are so many coffee shops in this area that you could sort of see this coming.”

Employees at both the Scarborough and South Portland locations declined to comment.

In December, a judge in Cumberland County District Court in Portland ruled the Freaky Bean owes The Baker’s Bench in Westbrook $13,000.