I'm sorry, but I'm not going to play into this "woah to the loop" crap the media tends to report every 6 months every time a store or restaurant closes. Why aren't they reporting the closings along Olive in Creve Coeur or Chesterfield Mall or Chesterfield outlets or Clayton closings?
The loop has had standards like Fitz's, Blueberry Hill, The Melting Pot, Starbucks, every type of Gyro, Thai, Chinese, Pizza, sandwich joints blah blah blah and isn't "hard up" for somewhere to eat along the strip. There are plenty of places to indulge in entertainment from movies to live theatre to concerts and music halls. We have walked along the strip when it is packed on a Friday and Saturday night and most of the shops (like Loop Living - Good Works years ago - and Miss M's) are all closed at 5:00pm - sorry folks - you need to focus on your demos and your busy hours to make a buck. If I have a shop - paying loop rents - on the strip and I want it to succeed - I would be open in the evenings (especially FRI and SAT eves late). Miss M's moved into a primo location in Grand Center - every evening that district is crawling with theatre / concert goers before the shows and many a time I would have stopped into Miss M's for a litte candy to take into the theatre or browse and buy something before or after the show... and yet Miss M's is black and closed at 5 even on Sat and Sun when there are tons of people just milling around - especially college kids. The old City Diner - and then Diner at the Fox was closed most evenings if it wasn't the weekend EVEN though there are shows every night of the week. I just cannot boo hoo business owners who boo hoo when they have to close their doors - but are never open for the crowds (because they are unwilling to staff or staff themselves during those times. I'm a small biz owner and I work all the time and willing to work when the I know the crowds are there. It makes no sense to me. Can you imagine walking down Times Square and all the gift shops and little restaurants are closed during theatre times? If you were a small restaurant in a lively evening district - wouldn't you woo patrons in with special pre-fix theatre dinners and after theatre cocktails? Pre-theatre Candy Store specials or come and browse? Grand Centeris filled with people just waiting for theatre doors to open and peeking into the windows of Miss M's and others.
Snarf's is one of the worse organized sandwich shops ever. The downtown store is not friendly ever and to say they "moved out of the area" is ridiculous... how about saying they had two stores in the loop and decided to concentrate on one.
Dough-acracy is "closing" kindof... in fact they (the owners/co owner) are planning ANOTHER style restaurant for the same storefront location.
From the article in the paper:
Co-owner Mimi Hurwitz says the restaurant will be open through Sunday, though it's not clear how late or how many items will be left by the end. She says she believes there may be good news for the pizzeria's storefront in the coming months. "I am hopeful and feel very positive that we've got a party that's extremely interested in the space to do their own concept," she says. "I'm very optimistic that this won't become another vacancy in the Loop."
She is betting that their "new concept" will take off better. They only have another location in Geneva, IL (??? wherever that is). This storefront will open back up by May or June at latest with another concept she is pushing.
Doughacracy had marginal Yelp reviews and was fast food pizza up against Loop long-stays for good Pizza:
Pi Pizza
P'ublico
Rancanelli's
Tavolo V (on Big Bend but close)
BlueBerry Hill
Pizza by the Slice (Provisions)
Anyway, I get so sick of this type of news. Is it "really" news if a place is closing just after a few years of biz? If that is the case maybe the "news" needs to cover all closings/openings in every district and suburb of the metro area. This is why STL has this "whoa to us" attitude that just gets old and drives people away from STL and the region as a whole.
Tell KSDK (I did) what you think of this crap ass, negative non-news and you're sick of it too!
http://www.ksdk.com/contact-us
