  Rfban Member Username: Rfban Post Number: 11 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 68.61.195.59 |
The Meetery Eatery is closing on Friday of this week. Letter as follows; Subject: FAREWELL FROM THE MEETERY EATERY CAFE! WE ARE CLOSING OUR DOORS FRIDAY AUGUST 25TH! Goodbye for now to the friends and family members of the Meetery Eatery Cafe. Unfortunately, we are unable to stay open at this location and we will be closing our doors on this Friday at 11pm. The past two years of inside and outside construction at the Park Shelton has caused undue financial hardship to our business and personal lives. In addition to this fact, our landlord is not willing to agree to any “fair” resolution to our problem. We have tried everything that we can to stay here but our landlord has made it clear that “they are not motivated to work with us because there are much larger companies who will pay them a lot more for our space.” This attitude prevails in our downtown and midtown area making it tough for us small independents to survive. We love our customers, our business, and the Detroit community and will continue to find ways to remain independent and successful in the community we love. We would like to thank all of the people, organizations, and businesses that have supported us. Without you we would not have lasted 2.5 years. Be sure to encourage people to sign up for our café club at www.meeteryeatery.com because we will stay in touch with you as we start to investigate our new location inside of another Detroit neighborhood. In the meantime, there is another independent coffee house in the neighborhood that we have worked with and wish that you would support. It is called Beans & Bytes and is located at 4200 Woodward ave. (www.beansandbytes.com). Jerry Brown Owner/President www.meeteryeatery.com (Message edited by Rfban on August 22, 2006) | ||
Chitaku Member Username: Chitaku Post Number: 672 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 69.136.147.97 |
There is an abandoned space on Trumbull across from the WSU playing fields that is dying for something to go in. | ||
Quinn Member Username: Quinn Post Number: 896 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 64.139.64.80 |
What about lee's old place? This is sad to see them go. I've only been maybe 4 times, only because it's not close to my house, but it was a great place with great employees. | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 260 Registered: 06-2006 Posted From: 24.169.224.43 |
Anyone have any idea which "much larger company" may be moving in there? | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 1257 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 198.208.159.18 |
thejesus, judging by the fact that the meatery eatery was the only buisness operating out of the PS's exterior storefronts, I wouldn't hold your breath for something "larger" | ||
Detroitduo Member Username: Detroitduo Post Number: 722 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 194.138.39.56 |
This is sad. As the letter states... the mentality that a "larger" company will pay more to be there is prevelant...and lame. IMO, this space will go vacant and remain so. There IS no "larger" company... only the landlord's WISH that there will be a "larger" company. Personally, I will always visit a local "hole-in-the-wall" before I will go into a "larger" national chain. Locally owned businesses are what give our neighborhoods flavour and interest. Short-sightedness is common by these landlords.... | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 261 Registered: 06-2006 Posted From: 24.169.224.43 |
Still though, it begs the question, what was the landlor's motivation in not trying to keep this business there unless he had something else lined up...some other company in mind that is willing to pay more for the space... | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 6673 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 208.27.111.125 |
Short-sightedness is common by these landlords.... On that note, I know someone who needs a place to stay downtown for a few months. Will you take $400 a month? Thanks. | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 1750 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 68.61.187.234 |
It seems the landlords in these renovations and new construction projects really need chain restaurant or retail to make their projects work. Or at least meet their business plan and make the banks happy. I find it interesting that they even make the ground floor retails space anything but bonus in their business plan, since there remains a completely oversaturated market for it downtown. Residential is in demand, ground floor is not. And yet, many projects are asking relatively high rents (given the business prospects downtown) when there is no demand, and they expect a major chain (who can afford the space but has no desire for it) and eschew independents (who will use the space but cannot afford it). Frankly, if people wonder why there is no vibrancy on the street-level downtown, there's a big part of it. | ||
Mrsjdaniels Member Username: Mrsjdaniels Post Number: 203 Registered: 08-2005 Posted From: 141.217.46.39 |
i liked meetery eatery...:-( maybe they can rent some space on campus...we've got a lot of empty front space that hasn't been filled | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2119 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 129.9.163.105 |
There are costs associated with having a storefront leased. At a certain price point, it becomes cheaper for the landlord to just leave it empty. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 569 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 141.216.1.4 |
Maybe they could take over the Barnes & Noble cafe at WSU that has rip-off prices. | ||
Viziondetroit Member Username: Viziondetroit Post Number: 729 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 69.246.10.173 |
that sucks.... | ||
Cafe Member Username: Cafe Post Number: 1354 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 84.162.12.133 |
Ndavies, I went to many land lords, and there were few who would even provide me with a white box. The attitude we ran into was: You want to rent it, you build it to suit. If we hadn't had to invest so much in the demolition and rebuild of the space, we would have actually made a buck. | ||
Detroitduo Member Username: Detroitduo Post Number: 723 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 194.138.39.56 |
Quote: "itsjeff wrote: On that note, I know someone who needs a place to stay downtown for a few months. Will you take $400 a month? Thanks." You're funny. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2120 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 129.9.163.106 |
I'm not talking about build out costs. I'm talking about building maintenance, insurance and rent collection. At some point the leasee will ask for more in building maintenance than they will be paying for in rent. Maintaining an empty building is far less costly than maintaining a rented building | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 6676 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 208.27.111.125 |
Unless you were Cafe's landlord... | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 570 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 141.216.1.4 |
"Maintaining an empty building is far less costly than maintaining a rented building" Only sometimes, because when there are sufficient renters, they cover the cost of maintenance. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2121 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 129.9.163.106 |
Actually that was exactly my point. The landlord obviously thought it would be cheaper to lose the tennant than fix the building. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 6336 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 70.236.198.22 |
No shit, Sherlock...no foot traffic means no wear-and-tear...but that is just wrong thinking, plain and simple. Empty storefronts just perpetuate the look of an abandoned town. Until, of course, the scrappers notice and send your maintenance costs sky-high. OH, to live in a place where the things of real value somehow find their way into economic calculations...like people, and beauty, and peace & quiet, and the overall well-being of citizens and neighborhoods... | ||
Cafe Member Username: Cafe Post Number: 1355 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 84.162.12.133 |
Sorry Ndavies, I was thinking about it as the Park Shelton, since they have many renters already so they have to maintain the building. I love that building and wish I could have been their coffee shop. Oh well. Dial H and I talked to them a bit about the corner space for an art gallery, but we decided not to do it as we both had other projects and I already had gotten several artists into the Compuware building. The Park Shelton was very cooperative and reasonable. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2123 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 129.9.163.106 |
Well then gannon, Why don't you buy a building and subsidize your tenant's rent. | ||
Observant2art Member Username: Observant2art Post Number: 209 Registered: 11-2005 Posted From: 209.104.139.161 |
They had EXCELLENT food and the poetry on Friday's was nice also. What about that nice size building next door to White Castles near West Grand Blvd? | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 1751 Registered: 11-2004 Posted From: 68.61.187.234 |
Well, just as landlords have decided at some point it is too much hassle to have ground floor retail in their buildings, I guess retailers have also found that it is too much hassle to have ground floor retail in downtown Detroit. So everybody ends up happier. My point is that the market is all out of whack. Few spaces are viable without significant tenant buildout, and the ones that are charge more rent than Kerrytown in Ann Arbor for a fraction of the foot traffic, convenience or appeal. (Message edited by dialh4hipster on August 23, 2006) | ||
Arab_guyumich Member Username: Arab_guyumich Post Number: 781 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 67.38.31.237 |
I thought the Meetery Eatery was overpriced the two times I went there. I work right across the street from the Park Shelton, yet I can't recall a single person in my office ever going there for lunch. But they seemed like nice enough people... | ||
Tiorted Member Username: Tiorted Post Number: 7 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 141.217.55.103 |
surprised it lasted 2 years, I went there once and never went back. No major loss for midtown | ||
Darwinism Member Username: Darwinism Post Number: 549 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 69.209.147.170 |
I agree with many of you above, in regards to the attitudes of landlords as far as their monetary expectations go. All these mixed-use loft developments are peddling their ground floor retail space - Park Shelton, Mid-Med, Ellington ... just to name a few. I value the comments from Cafe because she had been in the trenches before. It is very, very, very hard for the independent small business owner. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2124 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 129.9.163.106 |
Last time I checked most Landlords were also independent small business owners. | ||
Swingline Member Username: Swingline Post Number: 575 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 172.167.153.130 |
The Penobscot Building has given up its most prominent retail space at the Fort/Griswold corner to expanded office space for Detroit Commerce Bank. Very disappointing. And I'm sure that the bank is paying far less per sq. ft. than the owners were asking from potential retail tenants. Many building owners in the CBD have unrealistic ideas about the value of their ground floor retail spaces. They look at Birmingham and Royal Oak, or worse, Chicago or New York, and presume that any downtown retailer should be able to generate enough revenue to afford $25-$50 sq. ft. The reality presents something quite different. | ||
Cafe Member Username: Cafe Post Number: 1356 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 84.162.75.84 |
Ndavies, they are, but they also have something that most retail business owners don't have, real property. Banks see their business as having real value. There are great landlords out there. Detroit has some realistic building management, but there is also a lot of really (insert negative adjective here) landlords. I dont think the Park Shelton's management/owners are in the later catagory. As I said earlier, they were very reasonable in the negotiations I had with them. | ||
Zede Member Username: Zede Post Number: 15 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 69.236.198.3 |
I think it's too bad. I moved out of state a year ago (for school), so obviously I haven't been there in a while, but it was conveniently close to my WSU office at the time. Hopefully they'll find something fairly nearby so their regulars can continue going there and they won't have to spend as much trying to reestablish themselves. Is that one building by the Bonstelle (just to its south) still boarded up? I always thought a coffee shop would be nice there, especially before and after shows. Not sure how viable a space that would be at other times, though. |
